Based on Acts 9:1-9 (New King James Version)
“Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So he, trembling and astonished, said, ‘Lord, what do You want me to do?’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’ And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”
God calls man to salvation at every instant. Innumerable are the moments that He calls to be acknowledged, to know Who God is, and He does it in a very obvious and personal manner. Many will ask: “How does God make his call, because I neither see Him nor hear Him?” The main way that God does it is through everything that is created, so that man can start his search for the Most High, as it is written: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20. Everything that exists proclaims His greatness, His omnipotence, from the great and unlimited universe, space, the galaxies, the stars, and the planets, to the most mundane (per se), like the beating of our hearts, the functions of our senses, and even our thoughts, both voluntary and involuntary ones, the ones that keep us alive even until this moment. God created everything and He allows for everything to remain in existence through His thoughts. The Word says this: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16-17. Everything exists because He made them and established them one day, and everything continues to consist until today, including our own lives because they consist in Him.
After that, there is a time when God starts calling directly to salvation through His Holy Spirit and His Word. These two identities (per se) working together are what God uses to call to salvation, and these are also always working, and in different ways. The Word of God many times shows up in the most unusual places. God calls in different places. Even the symbols speak of Him and of what He did for all mankind, even though people use them in different ways. The most common symbol is the symbol of the cross. It is impossible to avoid explaining what the cross means when it’s seen. It’s something so singular, so unique, and it has no other interpretation. Innumerable are the moments and different ways that God tries to get our attention so we can come to salvation through the Lord.
Now then, what took the Lord to call Paul in the manner He did? The big problem is that for one reason or another, the majority of people do not look for the Lord’s salvation unless a difficult moment occurs. Almost no one looks for the Lord when everything is calm, per say, or that things are progressing fairly well, even within this very disorderly and disastrous world. The most people are either content with the crumbs this world throws at them, or they are so sure of themselves that they do not feel the need to have God’s salvation, or they are so concentrated in what they want or are pursuing that they are not paying attention, even to such obvious and powerful things we mentioned before. In the end, they are prisoner to the lies and illusions the devil puts all around those that have yet to be enlightened by God’s truth. The majority are so busy serving the sin that governs them that they cannot even see or feel God. And this is what the Word says regarding this: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” Romans 6:16-18. Paul, before having his encounter with the Lord, was so engrossed in his religiousness that he did not realize that he was challenging God Himself.
The passage we just read points to a very big detail, and that is that salvation is an obedience. When we come to the Lord, by repenting from all of our sins and acknowledging Him as such, we are truly obeying the righteousness of God. What does this mean? Accepting Jesus as Lord is simply accepting a reality. In other words, Jesus is Lord, whether we want to believe it or not. Democracy does not exist in the universe. God is not God because a group of people voted for Him. God is God because He really is God, and Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords and that’s it. It is an inevitable and irrefutable truth. So then, when the Lord calls to salvation, He is calling to the acceptance of a reality, and accepting that reality while there is still time is what produces salvation (because there will come a time when that decision cannot be made anymore). And the Word warns in this manner: “Then He looked at them and said, ‘What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone’? Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.’” Luke 9:17-18. Paul, by God’s mercy, fell on the stone, and like that was broken so he could acknowledge and obey a certain reality for his own good. Woe to them that do not come to obey God while there is time, and instead of them being broken, they are grinded down! Just as the Word warns also: “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’’ Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:7-13. So then, have you really accepted Jesus as your literal Lord, by obeying God’s call to salvation, or are you still hardened in your sin? Lord bless! John