Three Days
Today is the day we remember Saul's conversion.
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? He asked, Who are you, Lord? The reply came, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. - Acts 9:1-9
Imagine for a moment that your whole life comes to a crashing halt. You are not dead, but everything you believed was right is suddenly found to be wrong, and you are powerless to move forward.
Saul truly believed he was on the right path when he was struck blind and helpless.
Not only was he unable to continue his mission, but he learned that the mission he was on was wrong from the start. He was so shaken by this, he couldn't eat or drink for three days, and he probably would have continued that way had he not been visited by Ananias.
The three days that Paul found himself alone and disconnected from God are reminiscent of the three days Jesus spent in the tomb. When the time was over, he would be a new man, resurrected in Christ.
I imagine it is possible that each of us will at some point in our lives encounter our three days. We will feel disconnected and lost like Saul, beaten down, humbled.
When that time comes, how will we react? Will we realize that we are not ever alone and that the time will pass, and we will be renewed, reborn?
Or will we let it take us down?
Perhaps we think we will not be challenged like this. After all, we are already believers, and on the right path.
But that is what Saul believed as well, and if we can learn anything form him, or from the disciples who followed Jesus, it could be this. There may come a time of crisis that has the power to crush us or change us. How we react makes all the difference in the world.
Thank God we have the Holy Spirit to guide us through it.
More to come...