Devotion for the week...
I spent the weekend at a church women's retreat with a friend and more than 500 other women. It was fantastic! On Saturday, during a prayer session, the speaker asked us to raise our hands if our husband wasn't a believer. Hands went up all over the room. Then asked those whose children weren't believers to raise their hands. More hands went up. Then she asked those whose parents weren't believers, then siblings, then extended family, then friends. By the time she was done, every woman in the room had raised her hand.
I had another devotion for today, but standing there in that room I remembered one devotion I wrote for this year's Moments with Jesus QAL and Devotional Journey, and I decided to share that one instead. The story of Saul's conversion is one of hope and encouragement for everyone who cares for someone who doesn't believe in Jesus (yet!), which, as was shown on Saturday, is all of us.
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Saul, who would later be known as Paul, enters the biblical story with the death of Stephen, who was stoned to death by the religious leaders. "Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria" (Acts 8:1). Saul was right there in the midst of the persecution: "Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison" (v. 3). Not only that, he "was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers" (Acts 9:1).
Not satisfied with only persecuting the believers who remained in Jerusalem, Saul went to the high priest for letters introducing him to the leaders of the synagogues in Damascus, and asking for their cooperation as he went about hunting down any believers in their city, too. "He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains" (v. 2). He sounds like a peach of a guy, doesn’t he?
Letters of introduction in hand, Saul headed out for Damascus. "As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?'
'Who are you, lord?' Saul asked.
And the voice replied, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'" (vv. 3-6).
This is another one of those times I really wish the Bible told us what people were thinking instead of just giving us the bare bones of the story. What must have been going through Saul’s mind as he heard Jesus Himself speaking to him? Considering where he was headed and why, and his history of persecuting people who believed in Jesus, I would think Saul’s primary reaction to Jesus speaking to him would be one of fear. Unfortunately, all we know is that "Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink" (vv. 8-9).
We don’t know what happened during those three days, but we can probably assume Saul spent the time in prayer, and that he was 'told what he must do', as Jesus had said to him on the road. After the three days, God sent a man named Ananais who "laid his hands on him and said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized" (vv. 17-18). Even more amazing, "immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, 'He is indeed the Son of God!'" (v. 20).
Can you imagine how shocked everyone who knew him must have been by how quickly he changed his tune? He went from persecuting believers to being an outspoken believer himself in just a matter of days! He was the last person anyone would have expected to see believe in Jesus, until the very moment it happened.
Is there someone you love who feels like the last person you’d ever expect to see come to Jesus? Someone adamant they don’t need Him, or they don’t want anything to do with Him? Maybe they get angry if they hear the name of Jesus, like Saul would have, or maybe they just tune out whenever He comes up. Either way, it feels like there’s no way to reach them.
Saul’s conversion gives us hope for anyone who seems far away from God. He did a sudden and complete turnaround after his encounter with Jesus. Maybe the people we love will someday shock us with their sudden acceptance of Him after an encounter of their own.
