06/06/2024 – Stop Resisting the Grace of God
Acts 26: 13 at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.
We live in a world that is at war. Right now, we are witnessing the invasion of a country in Europe by a superpower. Sadly, this is not new. An official estimate lists over 100,000 wars in the history of humankind. But even beyond this official estimate, we must realize that we live in a world that is constantly at war. There is struggle in the air. There are spiritual forces that we cannot see that are constantly fighting.
When we cannot achieve what we want or need by peaceful means, our tendency is to fight, to use force to get what we want. There are intellectual wars, emotional wars. Any weapon we can use to impose our will is good. In war, we say, everything is valid.
The decisive moment in Jacob’s life in his struggle with God was when he prevailed- not because he overpowered God, but because he surrendered. He was looking for his blessing all his life, and this was the moment he realized that he would be blessed not because he fought with God, but despite that.
Saul was not alone. We have all struggled with God. Like Saul we have spent too much time kicking against the goad. How great is our God, how merciful that instead of using His power to defeat us, He came down to our level. He allowed us to struggle so we realize how futile it is, how unnecessary, and what a blessing it is to surrender to God and His purpose.