02/12/2020 - IT WAS NECESSARY TO FALL TO THE GROUND

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Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Acts 9:4

The Lord’s work in Saul’s life was perfect. The self-confident Pharisee had to fall to the ground to acknowledge that he was persecuting God himself. One day, Jews in general will also come to this conclusion. To this day, the veil worn by Moses so that the Israelites could look at him, as he descended from the mountain, remains on their faces. That´s why they cannot see in Jesus the same Jehovah who made the covenant with Abraham.

We can say that Saul felt puffed up going against the Christian church, considering that it was made up of deceitful, unscrupulous people. However, when he saw the light that blinded him, he fell to the ground and recognized that it could only be a sign of God. Many people do not know the harm they do to themselves when persecuting the Lord’s servants. Out of pure human and religious pride, they do not accept Jesus as the Most High´s Envoy.

As long as we insist on what we think is right, we do not give way to the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to us as it is. Men´s tradition leads the weak in faith not to accept someone outside their group is used by God. They prefer to credit what happens to some deed of the devil. On the other hand, they, who claim to be of God, do not prove that the Most High dwells in them and uses them in a better way. 

Saul paid attention to the voice that called him by his name. Now, the good or bad we do to one of Christ’s disciples, we are doing it to Him. So the question was: Why do you persecute me? This shows that God watches over us and keeps us from many bad things, which we will only know about after the rapture of the Church. He loves us!

We persecute divine work when we speak bad of a preacher who is not in our church or cast suspicion on the use of resources from the people of God. Now, if the Lord leads His Church, He knows what He does. Nobody is its inspector, only the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father has led His harvest to this day and will continue to do so with zeal and wisdom.

Saul was in spiritual ignorance. Although he was taught by the famous master of Judaism, he did not know the love of God revealed on the cross. Saul felt that what Moses had written about the Savior had not yet been fulfilled (John 5:46). However, he had no doubt that God was visiting him at that moment, on the road to Damascus, to stop the persecution against His Church. We need the Heavenly Father to visit the rebels.

Saul received such love from the Most High! This shows that God does not treat those who do not know the Gospel with an iron fist, but with wisdom and love. In calling Saul’s name twice, God showed haste in what He would do. Repetition demonstrates that it is necessary to be agile when deciding to obey the Father.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares