When the disciple Stephan was stoned to death in Jerusalem, a man named Saul stood and watched with approval. Saul was given authority by the Jewish religious leaders to hunt down and imprison all followers of Jesus. Saul left Jerusalem to travel to Damascus on his mission to capture believers. God had other plans for him.
“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Acts 9:3-4(NIV)
If you came to Christ later in life, you may have experienced something similar to Saul. You probably weren’t as aggressive in your disdain for believers, but you likely had a negative impression of those who followed Jesus. I was 30 years old when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Before that moment, I thought Christians were weak-minded people who needed something to lean on to get through life. While there were many people in my life who nudged me toward Jesus, in the end, it was God who pulled me to my knees and impressed upon me the reality of His awesome power.
God is in complete control and can instantly turn hatred into love. God can make the blind see and He can bring the dead back to life. Everything you see happening in this world is completely under God’s control. Saul is a grand example of something bad that was changed by God into something good. For those of you who don't know, Saul became the apostle Paul and wrote much of the New Testament. In the blink of an eye, God can transform you and the world around you just as he transformed Saul.
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