So Damascus has fallen into the hands of the rebels....and over fifty years of Assad rule is over....the palace looted....statues crashed to the ground....typical successful revolution type of stuff. Damascus....that woebegotten city....the "oldest current capital in the world"....as Wikipedia puts it....and the "least livable city in the world"....as others have nominated it.
The apostle Paul....then Saul....as everyone knows was on his way to Damascus....when he had his....'Damascus Road Experience.' The street called Straight is still there today....running east to west through the city. If I were ever to travel to Damascus....just walking from one end of Straight Street to the other would be on my bucket list.
So this disciple named Ananias was given the task of laying his hands on Saul to restore his sight. Saul apparently spent a considerable time in Damascus in the early years of his ministry. God's Word says of Saul that he was also called Paul. I wonder how that worked? Would some disciples for a time call him Saul and others Paul?
I had a few nicknames when I was young. I few years ago I a ran into an old softball coach....and we talked for a while....and reminisced....all the while he called me by my old nickname....as I tried to smile through the wincing....for that time of my life was a very dark period. When that nickname comes to mind today I almost instantly....but thankfully only momentarily....become deflated. I need to remind myself that Jesus has cast that all away in the spilling of His blood on Calvary. Did Paul feel like this? Did he ever snap at the disciples...."Don't call me Saul!"? I have to think that he did.
Acts 9: 19, 20....NKJV....reads like this....
"And when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately, he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God."
Now it wasn't quite that easy for Saul or Paul because he had to spend some time in Arabia....probably just to think over what had happened to him....but when all was said and done...he immediately preached Christ....until his dying day.
You may have to be near my age..... ten dog years and four....to have heard this first stanza of eight in a poem by C. T. Studd....titled....Only One Life
Two little lines I heard one day
Traveling along life's busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart,
Only one life, 'twill soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last
I can meditate on the Apostle Paul....or the words of C. T. Studd....or the lives of Edwards or Bunyan or Spurgeon or Lloyd-Jones....or any one of hundreds of others that I have heard or read of....and it helps....for God has given us these men....(and women....of whom Joni Eareckson Tada heads the list)....to encourage us....and to stir us up. I have started out on their journey many times...and stumble along the way....maybe on the wrong road.....or wind up face-first in the dirt...but everlasting praise to our Lord and Savior and coming King....I somehow get up....to read another story....a story of yet another faithful brother or sister....and pray the strength to continue on that path....which so far is at this post.
Addendum: I should almost expect it by now....it happens so often....that I touch on a topic and then the next sermon that I boot up is on the same thing. You can listen to this 21 minute portion of a John Piper sermon by going to....desiringgod.org....and clicking on....What Christ's Obedience Accomplished.
