"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Psalms 119:18 (KJV)
Obstacles That God Puts Forth
Many natural things are “prickly”. The thorns are the natural defense for many roses, orange trees, and weeds. Grabbing hold of a prickly stem results in one letting it go and coming up with another plan. God uses the pricks of uncomfortable instances in our lives to change our direction. He did this in Paul's life, as the unsaved but religious man traveled on the Damascus road.
Acts 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.”
Paul had spent of much of his life trying to serve God his own way. Unfortunately, he did not detect, nor heed, the pricks God sent in His life to put him in the right direction.
Pricks that Saul ignored:
- Pricked ears – When Paul heard the preachers of the Gospel, he did all he could to stifle their preaching. Instead of pricking his conscience so he could change his wrong path, it angered him and encouraged him to do more to silence Christians.
He even held the coats of those that stoned the preacher, Stephen. While he was standing there he probably head the Word of God as at other times when he was around Christians. Still he held to his religion, even when the people of God preached and warned against it.
- Pricked eyes – Undoubtedly, he saw Christianity in action. He saw families split, people die, and heartache inflicted. In all the trouble he instigated against Christians, he saw that that they had a peace that he surely didn't understand.
He was like his name-sake, King Saul, who persecuted righteous David.
Pricks that others ignore.
- Pricked by circumstances: Hard times, sickness, failures, testings, aggravating situations, disasters, etc. are many times meant to draw us closer to God and trust him more. Instead, folks many times grow farther from the source of strength they need.
- Pricked ears: Perhaps, God sent a Godly mother, grandmother, neighbor, friend, Sunday school teacher, or let us hear a preacher on TV, but still His invitation was ignored.
- Pricked eyes: We’ve seen bits of the Word of God in tracts and good Christian testimonies, yet we ignore their example. We don't heed Gods pricks to our hearts and live our own lives.
August 2, 2005