Light
Act 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Act 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
But, he thought he was doing it all right according to the depth of his understanding and the volume of his knowledge. It seems, though, that there are more ingredients for wisdom than a well laid out plan based upon a substantial amount of evidence. In fact, in his case, it would seem that this very thing was the main hindrance to him seeing what he was actually doing, because of the elevation of his pride platform - based upon his ‘religious’ ascendance.
That 6th verse really reminds me then of the scripture, ” The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.” (Psalms 111:10) Paul had every reason to be sure of himself on his quest to demolish and extinguish the Christian movement and all its followers. Based upon what he really thought about God, he was doing the ‘Lord’s work’ and performing deeds of righteousness. In reality, though, there was nothing whatsoever that could be considered wise in the actions to which he had committed himself, and it wasn’t until he found himself trembling and astonished before the very One his deeds were about that he could begin down the path towards true wisdom (Jesus). It wasn’t until he could see nothing other than the awe inspiring light of God’s glory that he could begin to seek the way that only had God as its director and guide.
There may be something we’re up to that is considered legitimate and right according to our perspective of information gathered from the Word and circumstances. No matter how high we rise in recognition for ‘religious’ acts, however, there is only one way to true wisdom and understanding before God and His purpose for our lives. It is only when we’re brought low before Almighty God that we can ask “what wilt though have me to do?” and know the resulting actions will be full of wisdom. It is only when all other reasoning is eliminated by His light that there is an ability to really hear His voice and discover that possibly the very things we were so faithful to were in direct opposition to God Himself.
There is a light for our path today- to bring clarity to our steps, but also to bring trembling awareness as to just who our actions are for- and who they’re against. May there be transformation and redirection wherever the need be and may there be discovery of a new way of wisdom in worshiping our God face to face throughout this day.
Psalms 36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
