There’s an older popular song where the lyrics talk about how no mountain is too high, no valley too low and no river too wide that would keep the singer from getting to the one they love. This popular song and these lyrics came to mind as I was finishing this post. I felt God say that’s how His love is for you. There’s no mountain too high, no valley too low that will keep Him from you. He will cross rivers for you. He will look at that mountain that’s between you and Him, and say, “Ok! I’m on my way to you.” That’s exactly what He did for Saul, whom I’ll be sharing about today.
God doesn’t call the perfect, most religious people to follow Him and be used by Him. More often than not, it’s quite the contrary. The Bible is full of broken, messed up people who choose to give Him their “Yes” and are redeemed by His perfect love. His transformational love impacted a man, Saul, who went through a complete metamorphosis! I believe God desires and longs to reach hearts, every heart. He didn’t count Saul out and He hasn’t counted you out.
As I was studying Romans 1:1, I was so blown away by the first few words. It opens with, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God”–Romans 1:1 (NIV) It led me to study and think about Saul and his mind blowing transformation! For those that don’t know, Saul was later renamed Paul. God’s goodness, grace, mercy, love, calling, heart and anointing is seen in the single word “called” (Romans 1:1). I get so excited when I study verses and I get a new glimpse of God’s heart for us. He moves mountains in hopes we hear His voice and discover His heart and immeasurable love. God was getting ready to move mountains to get a hold of Saul’s heart and overwhelm him with His love that is without measure.
To understand the magnitude of this statement is to also know Paul’s history. (Remember, Paul was formerly known as Saul.)
1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest 2and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” 5“Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied. a 6“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing.b So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything. 10In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered. 11“Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.” 15“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.” 17So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.”21All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
Saul, a Pharisee, made it his life’s mission to hunt down and persecute Christians. He was very zealous in his mission to do so and it is what he was known for-to destroy the church, imprison Christians, punish them, slaughter them, make efforts to get them to blaspheme God, travel to foreign cities to persecute them (Acts 26:9-11), participate in the stoning of them (Acts 7:59-8:1-3), breathe murderous threats against them (Acts 9:1) and he even went house to house to hunt them down. Vengeance, hatred and zeal for eradicating Christians was his sole purpose. But God! But God…
As I’ve been studying Romans 1:1, my mind was weaving together the verses of Saul and his history. God brought to mind that His fingerprints were all over Paul’s life; His calling was there. “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) Before Saul was renamed Paul, and before he knew God, God had a purpose for him and set him apart. Even when Saul was doing the things he was doing to Christians, God had plans for him. As Saul was following through on his zealous missions to eradicate Christians, little did he know he was also on the road to redemption. God was in the works of pursuing Saul’s heart.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” Isaiah 55:8 gives us the smallest glimpse into how vast and glorious His ways and plans are. Won’t He do it! Won’t He do it! The believers at that time would have never thought Saul would be one to declare God’s word, to share the gospel, to love Jesus. You see, God sees things differently than we do. He does things differently than we do and thinks differently. His longing is for all hearts to get closer to Him.
You are called, chosen, set apart and predestined. God pursues you and your heart. He makes His presence known in your life. However you think about yourself or what others think about you, what really matters is what God thinks about you. When you begin to get a glimpse and understanding of His love, when it seeps down to the places in your heart that you don’t share with anyone, when His love goes there, you really do begin to see yourself as He sees you. You really do begin to KNOW He loves you.
When God began to pursue Saul and his heart, we can read about it in Acts 9:5, KJV when Jesus said to him, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” The goads isn’t mentioned in the NIV version but it is mentioned in the King James Version. “A goad was a long extremely sharp stick used to get an ox going the way you wanted when plowing. One jabbed the hind legs of an ox with the goad until the ox cooperated. (enduringword.com) When I studied this in my Holman Illustrated Bible dictionary, it says, “Christ’s words, ‘It is hard for you to kick against the goads,’ indicate that God had already begun His convicting work earlier. Like an ox kicking against a goad in the hand of the ox driver, Paul had been resisting divine guidance and leadership resulting in his own harm and pain.’” The Holy Spirit had already begun to deal with his heart but he had not yet submitted his heart to God.
Paul’s redemption story is quite beautiful, intimidating, courageous and awe inspiring. He became a man completely transformed. He acted differently, spoke differently, thought differently all after his encounter with God.
I write this to say God will use you and will begin to transform you from the inside out if you give Him your “yes”. Beautiful things come from a heart transformed by His love, Voice and His guidance. God declares good things over you and your life. He declares His will. When Saul was nearing His conversion to being a lover and follower of Jesus, God was calling him His chosen instrument. God marked him with His ownership, purpose, destiny and calling. When people are labeling you by your sin, God removes those labels and calls you His. His heart is so for you but He doesn’t make anyone live for Him. He gives us the free choice to choose to live for Him. Saying “yes” to Him is the adventure of a lifetime.
God knows us, intimately. There is nowhere we can go to hide from Him. There’s nothing we do that is unseen by Him. He knows our hearts. He knows our thoughts. Don’t count yourself out because God hasn’t counted you out. You are set apart, called, chosen, appointed and deeply loved. It gives God pleasure to choose you. It’s God’s heart and desire to choose you. He acts and moves to pursue you and He will make His love known for you over and over.