Today's daily lesson comes from Acts chapter 26 verses 12-15:
12 "In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting."
When we think of Paul's Damascus Road experience we usually think of it only in relation to his conversion to being a follower of Christ; what we often miss, however, is that incredible moment was also the changing of his mind. It was the day that the "Jew of Jew" Paul, intent on shutting down "the Way" for its purported apostasy, would soon be bringing its good news to the Gentiles.
Of course this was unfathomable to Paul before it happened. There was no way in the world this could ever be the case. He would resist it with all his might. But then Jesus spoke: "It is hard for you to kick against the goads." A stubborn mule will resist prodding (goading) by kicking back. This was an old farm saying, but even a city boy like Paul knew what it meant. Resistance was going to only bring about more pain.
There are things we accept. There are things we kick against. And there are things we have to have a Damascus Road experience to change our minds about.
But in the end, God gets us to where He wants us to go.
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