There are times in all of our lives that we go against what the Lord is calling us to do. We hear distinctly what God would have us to do, and yet because of our selfish inclinations we don’t want to do it. There are many types of examples, but I will give you one from the Bible.
Saul was in the counsel among the other Pharisee’s and they were all listening to a young man talk about his belief. The counsel was upset; this young man named Stephen was telling them about the very man they had murdered not too long before, a name in which they had wanted to forget.
The counsel finally got so upset with what the young man was saying that they decided to stone him, so they dragged him out and took him to the place where they stoned people. Saul went with and took the coats of the men who stoned Stephen.
He witnessed how the men acted and how Stephen acted; he heard Stephen pray for his murderer's forgiveness and saw the peace, light, and joy that was on his face when he died.
It left a strong imprint on his mind, one which would stay with him for the rest of his life.
In spite of that fact, Saul turned right around and started to persecute more and more Christians. He was relentless in his cause and in his zeal; he thought that we was doing it for the glory of God.
He got letters of approval from the counsel to carry out the same persecution in a city called Damascus and so he started his journey and headed there.
They soon came out of the desert that they were traveling in and reached a beautiful fertile land, they were not far from Damascus now, their eyes rested upon the lushes grass and trees, their ears enjoying the sweet sounds of nature.
All of a sudden a bright light came down from heaven and shone on Saul and a voice was heard by Saul saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? “ Saul was amazed, and trembling he asked, “Lord, who are you?” Then the voice answered and said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, it is hard for you to kick against the prick.”
He then asked what he should do, and it was told to him that he should go into the city and it would be shown to him what he should do next. The light was gone and with it his vision, he was totally and utterly blind. The people who were with him were amazed they wondered what had happened, they had seen the light and heard what sounded like thunder, and now here was their leader, blind!
They lead Saul into the city unto a certain house, and there Saul fasted and prayed for 3 days and nights. There was a righteous man living in Damascus and the Lord appeared unto him and told him to go into the street called straight and to go and heal Saul’s eyesight and tell him to be baptized. Now Ananias, the righteous man, was shocked, he heard about Saul and the great persecutions he had done, and he questioned God and wondered if he had heard right. The Lord told him once again to go unto to Saul for he was going to be a chosen vessel to unto the Gentiles.
So Ananias arose and went unto Saul and prayed over him, and scales fell from off his eyes and he could see. He arose and asked for baptism. His name was changed from Saul to Paul and he became a great apostle for the Lord and used the same kind of zeal that he had used when he was going against the Christian church.
We can learn so much from Paul’s conversion story. For instance, we may believe that we are doing right and may even think that we are serving God, but then God somehow in some way wakes us up to the fact that we are doing the total opposite of what the Lord would have us do.
The Lord calls each of us to a different job, and sometimes we are so adamant against doing it that we turn all of our energy on something else. We make excuses and reasons why we are not doing what the Lord has specifically called us to do. Even though we think we are serving God in another area, we are not doing what He has asked us to.
God sometimes has to use extreme measures to get the message across to our minds. For Paul, God used a bright light to shine across his path. So with us God will shine the light of knowledge across our paths. It may happen in different ways and at different times, and God may try several different times to get it across our minds.
The Lord will do this to us until we have decided one way or the other. If we constantly reject God there may come a point where He draws back. And sometimes by drawing back we often discover that we are headed down the wrong course of action and we turn around. Unfortunately, there are others who never do turn around, and then they die and it is too late.
We must hearken unto the voice of the Lord while He may be found. That means total surrender of ourselves to Him, not just once, but each and every single day.
We should not question or doubt God, but we can ask for confirmation that it is indeed Him that is speaking to us and not another voice. When we receive that confirmation we must act upon it immediately and do what God has said with no hesitation or fear of what may come upon us, just like Ananias did when the Lord appeared unto him and told him to go before Saul.
We must come and do what the Lord has bidden us, before it is too late. Time is running out and Jesus will soon be here, and I want to be ready when He comes, don’t you?
I don’t want to kick against the pricks anymore, do you?
