Get your goat

“A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.”

Proverbs 19:11

Get your goat means to irritate or annoy someone. This idiom comes from the act of actually taking someone’s goat. The night before a race, a goat was placed in the stall with a high strung horse to keep him calm and a competitor would sometimes take the goat.

I remember when my girls were in school, particularly high school, they would come home and say, “Guess what ‘she’ did today?” Then they would proceed to tell me what one of their friends did to irritate or hurt them. Usually it was because she didn’t get invited to something most of friends did or someone said a cutting remark that dented their ego. Regardless of what happened, they were eager to share with me all the details.

Because we’re all flawed, we all seem to annoy or get annoyed with others at some point in our lives. Most of the time it’s not our intention but it happens anyway. I know during my own struggles, my character is strengthened when I have dug deeper into the Scriptures to find comfort. I think God uses these situations as an opportunity to refine us.

A prime example to illustrate how God continues to use us even when we mess up is in the life of Samson. Although he was chosen by God and given incredible strength, his moral compass was off. When Samson fell in love with Delilah, he became boastful and eventually told her the source of his strength because of her relentless pursuit. Judges 16:16 says, “With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.” Today we would say we were “annoyed to death”, but this betrayal ultimately costs him his life.

God was the source of Samson’s strength; however I find it interesting in verse 20 that he didn’t even know the Lord had left him after his head was shaved. He thought he would defeat the Philistines like he’d done previously, but that’s not what happened. God allowed Samson to be humiliated and humbled when he realized his strength was gone and in that moment he knew he had betrayed God.

Friends will get your goat and vice versa because of our sin nature but during these times is an opportunity for our character to grow more Christlike. Let’s face it, we can all be difficult at times but when our confidence is rooted in the Lord, He becomes the source of our strength rather than the reliance of the acceptance from our friends.