Saving a Saul

Despondency and depression is everywhere these days. Almost the minute Barack Obama was elected, many people took the attitude "Oh, great. We're living in the End Times. Life is going to be tough and terrible!!" For a few moments, and during John McCain's concession speech, I had the same thoughts spinning through my head. But get the phrase "a few moments." I am better now. Why? Because the Lord brought one of the greatest conversion stories to my mind.

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath. He was eager to destory the Lord's followers, so he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them--both men and women--back to Jerusalem in chains.

As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, a brilliant light from heaven suddenly beamed down upon him! He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"...........

Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues saying, "He is indeed the Son of God!"

All who heard him were amazed. "Isn't this the same man who persecuted Jesus' followers with such devastation in Jerusalem?" they asked. "And we understand that he came here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests."

Saul's preaching became more and more powerful and the Jews in Damascus couldn't refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.~Acts 9:1-4, 19-22

To the early Christians, Saul of Tarsus certainly looked like the greatest villian of all time. Just as Barack Obama appears to us today. But to the Lord, Saul was a soul worth saving; his reputation didn't stand in God's way. Consequently, Saul became Paul, one of our Christian patriarchs who endured much for the sake of the Father he once condemned.

Who are we to say that the Lord cannot do the same to President-Elect Obama? Sure it looks impossible to our fleshly nature that Obama can change. His reputation precedes him. But I am not going to put the Lord in a box. For all I know, the Lord's plan before the beginning of time could have been to RADICALLY change Obama's heart and have him at the helm of this nation. That Obama would end up doing what he could to reverse Roe vs. Wade, defining marriage, etc. I don't know, but I am praying towards those ends.

I would encourage you to be praying for Barack Obama as he enters 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Lord has given the United States him for a reason, so we had better stop griping and moaning about it. With God, ALL THINGS, even changing a seemingly unchangeable man, IS possible.