What do you want me to do?

So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." – Acts 9.6

If we look back to Romans 8 we find a bystander at Stephen's martyrdom. A man named Saul was there holding the cloaks of the stoners. Saul was moving up in the ranks as a Pharisee. He apparently was already well known. By the time we get to Romans 9 Saul is persecuting and killing believers and his on his way to Damascus to ferret out those of 'the Way' there to arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem.

But on the way there something happened to Saul. God reached down from heaven to get Saul's attention. a light shone and Saul was knocked the ground and he heard a voice - 'Saul, why are you persecuting me?'

'Who are you Lord?'

'I am Jesus who, you are persecuting. You are wasting your time trying to stop me.' (Pardon my parrowphrase there)

What a wake up call. Saul knew he was trying to shut up those of The Way who were following Jesus the Nazerene. Jesus told him here that he was kicking against the goads and the harder he kicked the more he hurt himself.'

So Saul, the last person that you might imagine getting saved, said ‘Lord, what do you want me to do.’ Now ‘Lord’ was a general term of respect. The first time Saul said it he was being polite. The second time he used it he knew who he was talking to and still called Him Lord. He was submitting to the leadership of the one he had been fighting against.

We don’t know exactly when Saul got saved, but this was the point when his heart changed. He decided to quit ‘kicking against the goads’ and submit to Christ’s leadership.

That ought to give us great hope. No one is beyond the gospel. No one is a hopeless case.

That truth should motivate us to never give up, but to pray and share more earnestly than ever.

If Saul can find Jesus anyone can.