Day 235: Acts 9:1–9

Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus (v. 8).

If you asked me today what I question most at this point in my journey with Christ, my answer would not be, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Nor would it be, “Why have You allowed me this suffering?” It would most definitely be, “Why did You call me? With all my failures and frailties, why do I have the privilege of loving You, of knowing You the little that I do?”

As the blinding light falls suddenly on a murderous persecutor, we may be left in the dark to understand why we each have been called; but our eyes will be opened to the One who called. And we will sigh and confess, “How very like Him.”

Dr. Luke’s account of Saul’s conversion is probably quite familiar to you. In my mind’s eye I can just see young Saul strutting around Jerusalem, determined to make a name for himself as a hotheaded rabbi seeking authorization to arrest followers of Jesus in Damascus and return them to Jerusalem. He was on his journey when God intervened and knocked him off his donkey. Jesus asked Saul, “Why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4 hcsb). This encounter left a blind and very chastened Saul being led into Damascus where he would hear about Jesus from a courageous believer named Ananias.

Would you agree that no example could much better illustrate the statement that a person can be sincere in his beliefs yet be sincerely wrong? Saul knew it all, and yet he knew nothing.

I remember some of my first experiences when this formerly dogmatic, closed-minded woman unwillingly discovered the shade of gray. I used to see everything in black and white. I’ve concluded that for those who only see gray, God often emphatically and lovingly paints portraits of black and white so they are forced to acknowledge the contrasts. For those who only see black and white, He introduces situations when answers aren’t so easy, where lists “A to Z” cannot be found, and when points one, two, and three don’t work. Gray.

Life is full of grays, but in Saul’s dramatic conversion, you and I get to enjoy a little black and white—the evil of a sinner’s heart, the purity of a Savior’s mercy.