When A Goat Crosses Your Path
Are you struggling with betrayal, rejection?
Do you feel hopeless, defeated, angry? Does your hurt have you questioning why you should continue loving, giving, serving, sacrificing for those who have hurt you so deeply? Do you wonder how you can possibly ever forgive and reclaim your life?
I understand your confusion and hurt intimately. The pain sears deeply and you question everything you thought you knew to be true. Maybe that betrayal was someone that portrayed themselves as a sheep but actually turned out to be a goat. Kind of like the wolf in sheeps clothing. Matthew 7:15.
You wonder how you didn’t see it coming or what you missed in their character. Or maybe you knew their character but refused to acknowledge the ugliness hidden in their heart because your heart wants to believe the best in all people.
I imagine the betrayal and hurt I feel and the betrayal and hurt you may be feeling is much like how Jesus felt when he was betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter.
We can be pretty sure Judas was motivated by his love of money and greed. John 12:3-8, Matthew 26:14-15. In Luke 22:3 it says Satan entered Judas. He sold his soul to the devil.
Peter was possibly motivated by fear for his own life having seen Jesus falsely accused, beaten and insulted. “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.” Mark 13:9. Maybe it was weakness of his flesh that Jesus spoke of in the Garden of Gethsemane when he told Peter that his flesh was weak and that he should be watchful and praying so he did not fall into temptation. Mark 14:37.
What we must remember about Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial is that it did not deter God’s sovereign plan nor did it prevent Christ from loving, giving and sacrificing for the benefit of others; for you and for me. The betrayal, deception and/or rejection we may be experiencing or have experienced should not deter us from living out our God ordained purpose, nor should it deter us from loving, giving and serving as Christ loved the church.
Judas must have had an opportunity to repent and receive salvation during the years he followed Christ as his disciple, but his betrayal seemed to have sealed his fate. “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” Matthew 26:24. He never repented, although I believe he could have even after his betrayal. The cool thing is Judas was still used as a tool in God’s sovereign plan and our redemption. God can use those that hurt us or betray us to prosper us. God also says that what some intend for evil against us, He means for good. Genesis 50:20
We can find hope in that fact that Peter’s denial of Christ did not cut him off from the redemption of Christ. He ultimately repented, was forgiven and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Bible say “we ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Romans 3:23. It also says that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. 1 John 1:9
Not all of those that betray and hurt us will repent and return to Christ. Some will remain “goats”, their hearts hardened, and some will abandon the faith to become a “goat”. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron”. 1 Timothy 4:1-2
Our sin, that Christ (our Shepherd), carried upon his back and suffered immensely for, was out of his love for us (his sheep). He bore our sin even though he foreknew Judas would betray him and Peter would deny him. He bore our sin even though he foreknew that we, as broken humans, would grieve him greatly. The ashes of his sacrifice created the beauty of our redemption and the ability to live with him, and our loved ones who are saved, for eternity. We will live in the new garden where it won’t be painstakingly physically and emotionally difficult to love unconditionally. To love as Christ first loved us.
There will be healing of nations and healing of hearts.
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him. Revelations 22:1-3
We all want to feel appreciated and valued.
When we are betrayed or hurt it is easy to turn inward and question our worth, our purpose. Satan uses hearts that are ripe for his schemes to cause hurt, division and destruction. God uses hearts that are ripe for the harvest to bring glory and honor to himself and his Kingdom. Hang on to the truths of God and His love that will never leave you nor forsake you.
Hang on because your paradise awaits.
And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." Luke 23:43 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matt 25:32-34
Until the return of Christ there will be goats in our life that will try to cause division and destruction. When betrayal and hurt comes, don’t forget that YOU ARE A SHEEP, saved by God’s amazing grace, and when the the Lord separates the goats from the sheep, you WILL inherit the kingdom prepared for you.
Much love,
Chrissy