Learning Life Lessons

Have you ever felt stuck at a point, unable to progress? Maybe you feel sure that what you are doing is justified and is moving you in the right direction? This is how I have been feeling for simply ages, but am I seeing correctly? Maybe some of us think we are ready and have finished what we need to work on, but maybe God knows this is not so? I believe God wants us to learn key lessons before He allows us to move and take our next step.

Take the example of Saul in the Bible, who was later renamed Paul. Saul persecuted Christians, some to their death, as he believed Jewish customs were the only way and that the new movement of Christians, called the Way, posed a threat and were evil. He was on the road to Damascus to pursue another exploit against Christians, when he met with a blinding flash of light and encountered Jesus. Jesus asked him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Saul was totally blinded by the encounter and had to be led by hand to Damascus. He remained blind for three days and only then regained his sight and was baptised.

Are you following your own path with full enthusiasm and conviction in your beliefs? What if you are on the wrong path? What would it take for you to see you are following the wrong path? For Saul, it was an obvious moment, which many call a Damascus moment. Imagine you are Saul and you are walking down the road and you see a blinding light and hear a voice from heaven. This would be very disconcerting! You are a vehement persecutor of Christians, and now you have an encounter with Jesus in a huge, blinding, glorious flash of light! And Jesus asks you why you are persecuting Him by harming His followers! And to top the entire experience off, you are now left blind, not knowing if you will ever regain your sight, and dependent on someone else to show you where to go.

I heard a sermon in church where it was explained that Saul remained blind for three days to make sure he had changed and had learned his lesson and was now following the right path. Consider that if Saul had seen a flash of light and had heard a voice without going blind, he might have dismissed the whole experience. But it was an immense glorious light, so bright as to blind him, and he then had three days in which to mull over the experience in his mind, and to ponder on his past actions.

How often have you made a resolution to change and then been discouraged or bored and gone back to your old habits? What if you were meant to change from these old patterns of behaviour, but didn't? Would God want you to move forward before He knew you were ready? The pastor mentioned that, for Saul, he stayed where he was for three days, but for many other people this could be three weeks, or months, or years, and for some people it could be a lifetime before they are able to finally realise what is keeping them from moving forward. God knows.

Saul, who was renamed to Paul, went on to become one of the greatest evangelists of all time. He wrote large sections of the New Testament. This history also shows that God can change any heart, and He can also use people who He knows have potential, even though they are currently doing wrong. Paul's testimony stands to this day.

"I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.

It happened that, as I made my journey, and came close to Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from the sky a great light around me. I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.' "Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they didn't understand the voice of him who spoke to me. I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' The Lord said to me, 'Arise, and go into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.' When I couldn't see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.

One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus, came to me, and standing by me said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' In that very hour I looked up at him. He said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth. For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.' (Acts 22:3-16 WEB)