Encountering God Changes Everything

Encountering God Changes Everything

“Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.” (Acts 9:1)

Who are you? The world has many pathways for a person to define themselves. According to the world, we may identify in a manner that pleases us in the moment. Or we are a collection of our own personal experiences. Perhaps we are our DNA, and our immutable characteristics are genetically passed to us by happenstance. Or even further still, it is our culture, race, socioeconomic status, gender, political affiliation, age, or education that answers the question. Or maybe we’re just animals with instinctual drives that are doomed to live vainly and die alone. All of which is complete dreck. You are who God says you are, and there isn’t a force on Earth or under Heaven able to change that.

You see, Saul knew who he was. For instance, Philippians 3:5-6 spells out his brief history and opinion of himself before he took a trip to Damascus. “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.” His confidence was off the charts, and he had every reason for it. He took great pride in his knowledge, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.” (Acts 22:1-3) This was a man well trained, expertly instructed, and zealously attentive and effective. “He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:1a-2) This was not a man who waited to be ordered to a task but one who made things happen.

“But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” (Acts 9:15) What did Saul know? All of his assuredness, all of his confidence, training, knowledge, zeal, and plans ended in the dirt on a road. Saul’s encounter with Jesus not only blinded him but shook him to the very core. We are told that after he was led to Damascus, he remained blind and did not eat or drink anything for three days. He was blinded, but his eyes were finally opened. He had come as a messenger of the sword and left an apostle of the Prince of Peace. Earlier, we saw the dramatic transformation of Peter from a man who easily cowed when under duress to a fearless defender and proclaimer of the name of Jesus. We see perhaps an even more fantastic transformation here because of how brief this encounter was. Chiba pointed out how quickly this powerful agent of persecution was humbled in the presence of Jesus, and it was this very man who would later write in Romans 14:11, “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ’every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” (A reference to Isaiah 45:23). There are none who can stand against the Lord. How much stronger can we stand knowing we do so for Him?

Amisa, Bella, and Chiba each voiced concerns about sharing the Gospel with certain people in their lives. They noted the difficulties and complexities involved in each individual case, and they weren’t wrong. Sharing the Gospel is our duty, but it is not without consequence. Tradition tells us that each of the apostles spent the rest of his days preaching and that each of their lives on earth ended violently, four by crucifixion and others by equally bloody and despicable means. Nowhere is it written that our duty is an easy one or one that will solely foster joy and warm feelings. But the example that comes to mind is that of Daniel and the lion’s den. Daniel was forced into the lion’s den for practicing his faith publicly, and his faith was rewarded, but he was still required to spend the entire night in that dungeon. We may be asked to enter a “lion’s den” of our own. Like Daniel, we can rest assured that the same God that protected him will protect us, but we may have to spend time there; for those that are truly lost, it may take quite some time to draw back to the light. Like Plato’s allegory of the cave, some will resist the call to come outside to see the world as it is, instead finding the familiarity of their shadow world preferable. But Megan raised the salient point here if you want to see these people in Heaven, there is no other way. Spending time in darkness can help us to appreciate the light, and when the scales fell from Saul’s eyes, he never looked back.

It may be true that Saul’s (and soon to be Paul’s) journeys were driven by a desire to share the word before the second coming. But as many of you pointed out, fear (even biblically based) strikes me more as a paralytic. Perhaps even the most powerful paralytic. I think part of what spurred Paul on through his missions was a truer freedom than most people will ever know. As Americans, we think we understand this word, and as Texans, perhaps even more so. (Or even adopted Texans, as the case may be.) But we as Christians should understand this word to the fullest. Because we must understand that we are free even from our past. Ananias proved this point when he greeted Saul in Damascus as “Brother Saul.” The man who had committed the great persecution against the church was gone and now was made new. A reset button is an incredibly freeing notion, especially when coupled with knowledge that this new self is not striking out blindly but walking, for the first time, in accordance with God’s will.

Saul was on the road to Damascus, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, when he became perhaps the most famous convert to Christianity in world history. It was certainly consequential at the time, and the reverberations have been felt at every reading of one of his letters. But it wasn’t Saul that made a change on the road to Damascus; it was Jesus revealing Himself that altered this history. “This man is my chosen instrument…” was how it was described to Ananias. Saul isn’t the most consequential convert to Christianity, the next one is, and the next one is because it is continued proof that God is active and moving in our world today. It is my sincere hope that we (myself very much included) could also be described by the Creator as a “chosen instrument” for His bidding. We could allow things to stand in the way, our past, or our fear. But our past is erased when we are born again, renewed by the Spirit, and if it is true for Saul, then it would certainly be true for us. Edmund Burke wrote, “Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.” That is good advice from a politician, but even more applicable for spiritual work. There was no obstacle the early church and apostles could not overcome. Why do we think the same Spirit within us could be so easily stymied? “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Written by a young man who was once on a road to Damascus. True then, always will be. Who was he? Exactly who God said he was. Who are you?

Jordan Williamson