Monday devotions@work 29 June 2020
We all have those moments in life that we would rather seriously forget, right? Or am I the only one? You know, that ONE THING that if you could have your life over, you would go back and change it? You will make a different choice or respond in a different manner? Like all of us, Paul or Saul as he was initially named, also had those moments in his life.
In Acts 7:57-60 we read how the people literally covered their ears in a bid not to hear what Stephen was explaining to them. Can you imagine that? Well yes, how many times did you or I not turn a deaf ear when God spoke to us?
When we read further, we read that the people stoned Stephen and while they were killing him, they gave their clothes to Saul to look after. Saul was there when Stephen was stoned to death, he heard Stephen pray for his attackers for forgiveness, and saw when he died, but not only that – Chapter 8 starts with chilling words – it says, “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting Stephen do death”. He was not just looking after the clothes. It’s not a matter of he just happened to be there. He agreed with what happened, but it did not stop there for Saul.
Acts 8:3 says Saul started ravaging against the church. He went from house to house actively seeking to find believers, and when he found them, he dragged them off, whether men or women, and delivered them up to the authorities to be put into prison. The result of the persecution was that the believers were scattered throughout the country and started telling others about Jesus wherever they went. Thus, because the people were now moving all over the country, Saul had to extend his territory of operation in order to successfully persecute believers. In Acts 9 we read that he was “breathing threats and murder” against the disciples as he went to ask the High Priest for letters to travel to the synagogues in Damascus, giving him the authority to arrest believers and bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners.
It was for this purpose that Saul travelled to Damascus. Little did he know that his life was about to be drastically changed. On his way there we read how Jesus literally stopped him in his tracks. As a light flashed from heaven, he fell down and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?” I can imagine the thoughts in his mind. What are you talking about? Who are you? I don’t even know who you are, and you accuse me of persecuting you? Well yes, that’s sort of the point. Of course Saul would not have persecuted the disciples if he knew Jesus. But he did not. The people who were with him heard the voice but did not see anyone, so they were equally dumbfounded as they witnessed the moment.
Jesus clearly identifies with His disciples in this moment, because technically Saul was persecuting the disciples – but Jesus pertinently asks him, “Why do you persecute Me?” He seems to take persecution of his people very personally. Then Jesus tells him to get up, go to Damascus and wait for further instruction – only when he did get up, he was blind. Those with him had to lead him into the city. Can you imagine this moment? Great big Saul, the big hardened persecutor of the church, is being led into the city blind and confronted with his own misguided loyalty to a “God” he clearly did not know, in spite of all the studying he did of the scriptures at the feet of Gamaliel – a great, prestigious and revered teacher of his time. Nothing Saul learned could have prepared him for this moment. Nothing in his whole frame of reference, nothing in his carefully studied and accepted paradigm of who God was and how to serve him, fitted into this moment of his life. The God he met on the road to Damascus did not fit into Saul’s carefully crafted box of ‘truth’. Saul’s life would never be the same again – he did not have the luxury to even consider going back to anything that was remotely familiar or ‘normal’ for him. In one moment, everything changed. For three days he did not eat, nor did he drink – I cannot even try to imagine the emotions and thoughts that goes through one’s being if you have poured all of your life, enthusiasm and energy into doing something you believed was right, just to realize in one moment that you were not just wrong, but dead wrong – but you were persecuting God Himself. I think I would also not eat nor drink anything. How do you come back from that moment? How do you pick up your head and put one foot before the other, let alone come back to have and live a purposeful life?
God was not done with Saul and God is not done with me nor with you, no matter how big the mess or how deep the hole that He must go to in order to fetch us in. God appears in a vision to Ananias, one of His disciples, and He sends him to Saul, and Ananias does not receive this with extreme enthusiasm. He says, “Lord, I have heard of this man and all the harm he does to Your disciples and here he has the authority to do the same?” And You tell me he is praying, and You send me to pray for him that he can be healed?” Well yes, Ananias, I know who this man is and what he has done but I have a different plan for him. I have chosen him to be My instrument. I have chosen him to CARRY MY NAME before the Gentiles, before Kings, and before the sons of Israel. So Ananias went, prayed for Saul and he was healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized, and began to proclaim that Jesus was the Son of God in the synagogues.
God did not choose Saul suddenly at that moment in history. God had chosen him before the foundation of the earth. God made Saul, created him to carry His Name from the beginning of time. It was planned like this for Saul, but Saul still had a choice – he could have been like the people who stoned Stephen, and covered his ears. He could have stuck his fingers in his ears saying, I don’t want to hear and yes, I am blind, but that must have been the work of the sun in my eyes - and he could have continued to persecute the disciples. His U-turn required of him to acknowledge that he was wrong. It required of him to humiliate himself and start proclaiming the opposite of what he had been proclaiming up to that point. He could not save face in any way, he had to bow the knee and admit, “I was wrong, I made a mess, I caused a lot of people a lot of harm but I am willing to make a complete turnaround”. Saul did make the turn around and he became one of the most well-known disciples of the early New Testament church. God took his mess, cleaned it up, and opened his eyes so he could see the Messiah.
It does not matter how big the mess is that we are in. How deep or dark that hole is in our own eyes. God’s arm is not too short to help. He is the God that specializes in second chances.
Do you need a second chance? A chance to come back from THAT thing you would desperately like to change, or wish you could make disappear with all your heart?
Ask Him to dig you out of that mess – He will.
We all have those moments in life that we would rather seriously forget, right? Or am I the only one? You know, that ONE THING that if you could have your life over, you would go back and change it? You will make a different choice or respond in a different manner? Like all of us, Paul or Saul as he was initially named, also had those moments in his life.
In Acts 7:57-60 we read how the people literally covered their ears in a bid not to hear what Stephen was explaining to them. Can you imagine that? Well yes, how many times did you or I not turn a deaf ear when God spoke to us?
When we read further, we read that the people stoned Stephen and while they were killing him, they gave their clothes to Saul to look after. Saul was there when Stephen was stoned to death, he heard Stephen pray for his attackers for forgiveness, and saw when he died, but not only that – Chapter 8 starts with chilling words – it says, “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting Stephen do death”. He was not just looking after the clothes. It’s not a matter of he just happened to be there. He agreed with what happened, but it did not stop there for Saul.
Acts 8:3 says Saul started ravaging against the church. He went from house to house actively seeking to find believers, and when he found them, he dragged them off, whether men or women, and delivered them up to the authorities to be put into prison. The result of the persecution was that the believers were scattered throughout the country and started telling others about Jesus wherever they went. Thus, because the people were now moving all over the country, Saul had to extend his territory of operation in order to successfully persecute believers. In Acts 9 we read that he was “breathing threats and murder” against the disciples as he went to ask the High Priest for letters to travel to the synagogues in Damascus, giving him the authority to arrest believers and bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners.
It was for this purpose that Saul travelled to Damascus. Little did he know that his life was about to be drastically changed. On his way there we read how Jesus literally stopped him in his tracks. As a light flashed from heaven, he fell down and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?” I can imagine the thoughts in his mind. What are you talking about? Who are you? I don’t even know who you are, and you accuse me of persecuting you? Well yes, that’s sort of the point. Of course Saul would not have persecuted the disciples if he knew Jesus. But he did not. The people who were with him heard the voice but did not see anyone, so they were equally dumbfounded as they witnessed the moment.
Jesus clearly identifies with His disciples in this moment, because technically Saul was persecuting the disciples – but Jesus pertinently asks him, “Why do you persecute Me?” He seems to take persecution of his people very personally. Then Jesus tells him to get up, go to Damascus and wait for further instruction – only when he did get up, he was blind. Those with him had to lead him into the city. Can you imagine this moment? Great big Saul, the big hardened persecutor of the church, is being led into the city blind and confronted with his own misguided loyalty to a “God” he clearly did not know, in spite of all the studying he did of the scriptures at the feet of Gamaliel – a great, prestigious and revered teacher of his time. Nothing Saul learned could have prepared him for this moment. Nothing in his whole frame of reference, nothing in his carefully studied and accepted paradigm of who God was and how to serve him, fitted into this moment of his life. The God he met on the road to Damascus did not fit into Saul’s carefully crafted box of ‘truth’. Saul’s life would never be the same again – he did not have the luxury to even consider going back to anything that was remotely familiar or ‘normal’ for him. In one moment, everything changed. For three days he did not eat, nor did he drink – I cannot even try to imagine the emotions and thoughts that goes through one’s being if you have poured all of your life, enthusiasm and energy into doing something you believed was right, just to realize in one moment that you were not just wrong, but dead wrong – but you were persecuting God Himself. I think I would also not eat nor drink anything. How do you come back from that moment? How do you pick up your head and put one foot before the other, let alone come back to have and live a purposeful life?
God was not done with Saul and God is not done with me nor with you, no matter how big the mess or how deep the hole that He must go to in order to fetch us in. God appears in a vision to Ananias, one of His disciples, and He sends him to Saul, and Ananias does not receive this with extreme enthusiasm. He says, “Lord, I have heard of this man and all the harm he does to Your disciples and here he has the authority to do the same?” And You tell me he is praying, and You send me to pray for him that he can be healed?” Well yes, Ananias, I know who this man is and what he has done but I have a different plan for him. I have chosen him to be My instrument. I have chosen him to CARRY MY NAME before the Gentiles, before Kings, and before the sons of Israel. So Ananias went, prayed for Saul and he was healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized, and began to proclaim that Jesus was the Son of God in the synagogues.
God did not choose Saul suddenly at that moment in history. God had chosen him before the foundation of the earth. God made Saul, created him to carry His Name from the beginning of time. It was planned like this for Saul, but Saul still had a choice – he could have been like the people who stoned Stephen, and covered his ears. He could have stuck his fingers in his ears saying, I don’t want to hear and yes, I am blind, but that must have been the work of the sun in my eyes - and he could have continued to persecute the disciples. His U-turn required of him to acknowledge that he was wrong. It required of him to humiliate himself and start proclaiming the opposite of what he had been proclaiming up to that point. He could not save face in any way, he had to bow the knee and admit, “I was wrong, I made a mess, I caused a lot of people a lot of harm but I am willing to make a complete turnaround”. Saul did make the turn around and he became one of the most well-known disciples of the early New Testament church. God took his mess, cleaned it up, and opened his eyes so he could see the Messiah.
It does not matter how big the mess is that we are in. How deep or dark that hole is in our own eyes. God’s arm is not too short to help. He is the God that specializes in second chances.
Do you need a second chance? A chance to come back from THAT thing you would desperately like to change, or wish you could make disappear with all your heart?
Ask Him to dig you out of that mess – He will.
Come worship with Phil Wickham as he sings "Living Hope"
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