“Saul! Saul!” - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

Suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So I answered, Who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.
Acts 22:6-8.

"Saul! Saul!"
The narrative: Young and full of ardour, Saul thought "he must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9). He persecuted Christians to the point of having them killed. But when he went to Damascus to prosecute them, a dazzling light shone from heaven and he heard: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Cast down and blinded, he asked, "Who are you, Lord?" Then Jesus revealed Himself to the one who was to become the apostle Paul and would evangelise throughout the Roman Empire besides writing a part of the Bible.

The application: Paul was persecuting Christians, but learned that he was in fact persecuting Jesus. It was an important lesson: by harming believers, Saul not only cast a slur on the memory of One who had lived and taught on earth, but He was opposing the One who was alive and was now speaking to Him in "a light from heaven brighter than the sun" (Acts 26:13).

Has the Saviour's voice sounded in my heart? Not perhaps to cast me to the ground physically and crush me mentally, but to make me realise that He is the Saviour, and our Lord and God, as Thomas had to confess (John 20:28).

The Lord's voice also calls me by name to tell me: "These Christians, whom you see and maybe criticise, are in fact closely related to me, and are a part of myself." Have I grasped that? By rejecting believers, we reject the Lord. By loving them, we love the Lord Himself.

Today's reading: Genesis 21:1-21 · Psalms 3:1-8