In London, England, lived Walter Lavender, for eighty-five years. In all those years, he never forgave the combustion engine for replacing the horse. He never rode in an automobile.
His granddaughter, Mrs. Jill Cavanaugh, told the newsmen, “He once pointed to a motor hearse, and said, ‘I don’t want to go to my grave in one of them. It isn’t fit and proper.’ When he knew he was dying, he made my grandmother and me promise that we would get him a horse-drawn hearse.” At first, the family had no success.
“There isn’t an undertaker in the country who still uses horses,” they were told. But Walter got his wish. A film studio provided four horses, and a splendid black carriage to carry the horse lover to his grave. Lavenders refusal in accepting the automobile is indicative of the stubbornness of the human race. 1
Even the great, educated, and brilliant Paul (Saul of Tarsus) at first stubbornly refused to accept the plan of God. Christ said to him, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14).
To better understand what Jesus said to him, in those days, the plowman carried in his hand a long pole or goad, with a sharp metal point, or prick, on one end of the pole, and at the other end there was a flat piece of iron which was used to clean the plowshare.
Quite often the young ox, probably not well broken in, would kick, because he did not like his work. The plowman then held the pole, or goad, in such a position, that when the ox kicked again, he would kick against the prick, or sharp point, and thus the animal would learn that resistance and stubbornness does not pay. Paul was learning that to kick against God’s plan was a mistake. 2
By David Arnold –da**@da***************.org
