February 04, 2019

BIBLE READING: ACTS 9

1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,……
3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

“IT IS HARD FOR THEE TO KICK AGAINST THE PRICKS”
Saul had been so busy chasing down, searching, arresting, and imprisoning Christians. I’m sure he was proud of himself. An educated, accomplished, disciplined man. He had just filed for permission to arrest believers in Damascus. He took off on the road to Damascus, loaded with chains to bring some conquest back to Jerusalem defeated and enslaved.

In a brief, quick, unforeseen moment, Paul’s life changed. Life always does when you have a personal encounter with Jesus. As Paul fell to the ground in submission, Jesus told him that fighting against the “sting” of Christ is a difficult task. This whole time, Paul thought he was hurting the Christians, but he was really hurting himself. He thought he had made their life worse, but he had made his life worse. He was proud of himself for agitating their ministry, but Paul had agitated himself. Paul thought it was hard for the disciples to fight against him, but he now found out how hard it is to fight against Christ. He really thought he was winning, only to find out how badly he was losing. That is the way it is in our life. We can feel good about our gentile, barely noticed backsliding, but Jesus can change all that in a brief moment.

In verse one Paul was bold, but in verse eight he was blind. In verse one he was threatening, in verse six he was thinking. In verse one he was on a mission, in verse four, he was on the ground. In verse one Paul was haughty, in verse five he was humbled. In verse one his career was thriving, but by verse nine, Paul’s career was over.

What a humbling experience when the hand of God crashes everything in your life down upon you. You find out how little you are, and how big God is. We experience how weak we are, and how strong He is. Paul went from a man in verse one that is ready to chain and bind the hands of believers in Damascus to being a blind man in verse eight that is having to be led by his own hands to Damascus. Remember today, God always wins. If you fight Him, you will lose. If you have friends or family that is fighting Him, eventually they will lose. No one can kick against the thorns of Christ.