I was having a conversation with a deeply religious friend of mine the other day and she told me that her son was upsetting her because of his complete apathy in looking for a job. In fact, he had told her just that morning that God just must have not wanted him to get a job and had other plans for him. She had responded, "No, that isn't God. God isn't making you be a lazy bum."
Apart from the fact that this is slightly funny, you need to understand that this shocked me, coming from her. I say this because the very sweet lady I was talking to is a person who sees God's hand in her life in everything that happens to her and everything she does, but in this case she drew a clear line and said, "No, God isn't responsible for this happening, you are." That's important. God is active in our lives, of course, but I can clearly remember times when he was pushing me visibly in a direction I didn't want to go and I managed to convince myself repeatedly as I banged my head needlessly against the walls he had put up that he wanted me to bash my way through these thick walls. "Wow, what a blessing it is to have these great challenges," I said. "Without these thick walls to bang my head on I just wouldn't know what God's will in my life was." It wasn't until after I surrendered and went the other way that I looked back and felt very foolish as it was then completely obvious that he very much was trying to get me to surrender and stop "kicking against the goads."
In Acts 26 Paul is defending himself in front of Festus and King Agrippa and he tells the story of his conversion. Prior to getting to the part where Jesus speaks to him, though, he says this:
"I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth." (Acts 26:9)
That is important. Did Paul oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth because he was just being evil and didn't know any better or did he believe with all of his heart that he was doing just as God would have him to do? Do you think he prayed all the time about it? Do you think he thought that God was working in his life? Listen to what Jesus says to him when he has been stricken on the road to Damascus:
And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' (Acts 26:14)
What is Jesus talking about with this "goad" thing? Listen, the amazing thing is that God was working strongly in Paul's life, but not to make him do the things that he was doing; not to make him persecute the church, although Paul was convinced this was the will of God for him. No, Jesus was goading him in his life to go the other way and what was Paul doing? What does Jesus say that Paul was doing here? He tells Paul that he was kicking against the goads. So a goad, of course, is an implement used to get an animal to go a certain direction, right? So Jesus is saying that he is working in Paul's life to get him to go a certain direction but Paul isn't going that way and instead he is kicking against the goads to go the other way. And Jesus tells him that this is hard for him.
Listen, we aren't promised an easy life, but if your life is hard maybe you should stop, take a breath, and ask yourself if it is hard because you are doing the will of God or if it is hard because you are doing what you want to do and are just kicking against the goads that Jesus is using on you while he is trying to get you to go the direction that he wants you to go.