Blind
As Saul was approaching the city of Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
‘Who are you, Lord?’ he asked.
‘I am Jesus, whom you persecute,’ the voice said. ‘But get up and go into the city, where you will be told what you must do.’ (verses 3-6)
Read Acts 9:1-9
All of us are born blind. None of us can see clearly how things really are. No-one typifies this common human ailment more than Saul. He was so sure that he was seeing things clearly, that Jesus was some kind of false prophet whose followers had to be wiped from the face of the earth. He, Saul, would make this godly work of persecution his mission in life.
Then he had his life-changing experience on the road to Damascus. Suddenly he was blinded in a dazzling moment of confrontation. He was brought face to face with the fact that the Jesus whose followers he was hunting was really his Lord and Saviour. For a short time Saul was physically blinded, a graphic portrayal of his spiritual inability to see.
This is what happens with you and me too. Until God confronts us with the searing light of revelation we lead lives marked by blindness. When he finally helps us to know him truly we see the light.
Dear God, thank you for making clear to me that you are not my enemy but my greatest friend. Amen.
by Richard Hauser, in ‘Guidance for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2002)
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