16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.
I bet if the first message you heard about the Gospel included how much you would suffer, you probably would not have responded positively to the message. The Lord knows Saul’s spirit precisely. He knows the turmoil that has rumbled in his spirit for these last three days. The physical blindness only masked the spiritual blindness that Paul had denied. During this three day break in his “Kill the Christian” tour, Saul has had time to think and reflect on his life. We don’t know exactly what he thought about as he waited. We do know that after his blindness is healed he spends several days talking with the disciples, and then he is on a very different mission. He was forced to rethink his whole theology, his whole view of life and purpose. It would be like a radical evolutionary biologist coming to faith. His whole life had been spent trying to prove a lie, and then he suddenly looks at a strand of DNA and it spells “Jesus is God” as clear as day. He pulls out another sample and those words are again found. How could he have missed it all these years? It was staring him in the face all the time, and yet he had missed and dismissed it. Suddenly he believes the words and he knows his life must change. The very foundation of everything he believed has shifted. Instead of being a random accident, we are created by the Designer. Saul must change every argument and defense of his faith. He must rework every lecture. The interpretation of every passage of Scripture must be reexamined. But the first word directed to him was about suffering. God knew what would motivate Saul. Saul was called to a life of suffering and deprivation, persecution and imprisonment. And yet this is exactly the life Saul thrived in. The Lord knew exactly how to get Saul’s attention in a way that would engender a willing and humble spirit from a man who had been so filled with pride. What is it going to take to get you to surrender fully to the Lord’s will? The Lord will give it, if you are willing to live it.
The Arnold Journey 