"For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus."
confer with God
Prior
to Paul’s revelation encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his identity,
his “badge of honor”, was apparently wrapped up in being something like
“top-of-the-class”, in a position of power and control. He honed his reasoning skills and was zealous
about maintaining traditions known and familiar to him.
What
is your “badge of honor”? What are the
keys to your identity? What gives you a
sense of purpose, meaning and value as a person? Pause and think about this for a moment, and
jot down a few ideas. _________________________________________________________________________
At
this point in the letter, Paul explains that he now sees God was working in His
life even from the time of conception.
But Paul did not really “get
it” until he experienced the grace of God—through being blinded—on the road to
Damascus. This was an intimate, personal
experience where Paul encountered his own wrong thinking by encountering the
love and grace of Jesus. That love and
grace revealed to Paul was to be
revealed as well, in Paul for the
benefit of others.
He was stopped short
in his pursuit of self-justification or self-validation. And here he makes a choice: rather than pressing on and forward on his
own, he withdraws to think these things over.
(I suspect he was “drawing near” to God.) It is after this that Paul is able to launch
out in ministry.
How about you? Are you chasing some sort of
self-justification or validation? How
so?
_____________________________________________________________________________ Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by
God’s grace? Are you willing to stop and
listen for His voice? If you catch a
glimpse of what God may want to do in you, or through you, will you confer with
people to gain assurance and approval, or will you first turn to God in prayer
and let your mind dwell upon God’s purposes as presented in Scripture? This is conferring with God rather than men.[1]
Read and Pray: 2 Chronicles 15:2, Psalm 46:10, James 4:6-8a
but
only after we have spent time with
The Wonderful Counselor.
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