My daddy has several goats at his house. Honestly, they are so cute when they are little, but the bigger they get…the uglier they get. Now that’s just my opinion, so I will apologize now for all the goat lovers out there. I’m sorry.
There.
Secondly, I’m sure you have also noticed that goats love to climb up on high things. I’ve read because they are very “sure-footed”. Simply, they are confident and unable to slip or fall. Usually, I will find one or more goats perched on an old doghouse in the pen with the goats. They stand proudly on the top overlooking the yard. They are watching everything below them from their lofty view….confident that from whatever position they chose to take, they are not going to fall.
Lastly, those horns on those goats. I’ve had one thrust his horns into my legs before and it doesn’t feel good. My dad has been hit so hard before by one it knocked him on his back. Maybe it is done in a playful mood, but a lot of times it can be done with other goats to show dominance or to try and boast with a quick jolt to whatever it is trying to get the attention of at the moment. Many times I have watched a goat get up on its back legs to raise his horns high and then charge at something…just to appear a little bigger, maybe?
Now, this is just my observance, but aren’t we a lot like goats? When we are born, we are just cute little babies, so precious. Then, we grow up. Not everyone, but some of us become quite ugly. We stand tall. Confident and haughty…sure-footed in everything we can do, knowing that we are incapable of falling into sin. We become very proud. We like to look down on those below us and thrust our horns at our peers showing dominance, pride and how wonderful we are. A lot of times, we even take pride in knocking others down with judgement or condescension.
Read Psalm 75.
As I was reading, I couldn’t help but thing about my daddy’s goats and how much the children of God can resemble them at times and then wonder why no one wants to go to church, be a Christian and know about the Jesus we serve. How can we expect to be effective for the cause of Christ when we look like a proud goat standing on self instead of a humble sheep following The Shepherd? I believe as a child of God we should always be humble, no matter what God has allowed us to accomplish on this side of eternity. We are quick to judge each other based on the house we live in, the car we drive or the career we chose, but God could care less about all that stuff and so should we. It’s temporal, friend. Don’t try and store up treasures in that “doghouse you standing on” here on earth, but in our forever, heavenly home.
God says that He is the judge…and His judgement is always perfect and true. Our judgement is based on our view of things in this world. Opinions. Not facts. My heart was encouraged this morning to remember that each day God is a divine appointment to tell about the wonderful works of the Lord (verse 1). Leave the judgement to Him. Let’s just sing His praises, because He is worthy.