A man from the big city was driving through the country one day when a billy goat jumped into the road and collided with his car. He had never seen a Billy goat before, so he turned into the parking lot of a country store and ran inside.
“I just ran over something and I don’t know what it is,” he frantically explained to a group of old fellows gathered around a potbellied stove.
“Well, what did it look like?” one of the fellows asked.
The city slicker said: “It has a hard head, a great big belly, and it’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”
One of the fellows jumped up from his chair and said, “Lordy mercy, you’ve run over my mother-in-law.”
I couldn't help but laugh at that old joke. Isn’t it odd that the city slicker’s description of an old goat could so aptly describe some people you’ve known, especially the hardheaded part?
Preachers in particular have always had to deal with people like that. In fact, the Bible tells us that the Old Testament Prophet Ezekiel faced those kinds of people way back in his day.
You realize, of course, that the Lord loves even the most hardheaded people and wants to have a relationship with them. That’s why God equipped Ezekiel to deal with them.
“Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant hard than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not neither be dismayed at their looks” (Ezekiel 3:8-9).
Your own preacher very likely could tell you some most entertaining stories about his efforts to share the Gospel with hardheaded people. Some folks just don’t want to hear the Good News, and your preacher, like Ezekiel, has probably had to butt heads with more than a few of them.
God’s desire is for everyone to be saved. So, while it would be easier to skip past the hardheads, God’s will is that they hear His Word. He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, into the world that everyone in the world, including the hardheaded folks, can be saved.
God told Ezekiel to go, speak to those people, sharing with them God’s word, whether they want to hear it or not. And that’s just what he did.
Let me encourage you not to give up on hardheaded folks. God loves them very much, and He wants them to experience His amazing grace.
But be warned, after talking with such folks, you might think you’ve butted heads with a Billy goat.
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Reach Roger alford at 502-514-6857 or rogeralford1@gmail.com.
