Stubbed Toes

"Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him,

'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'

And he said, 'Who are You, Lord?'

Then the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'

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 9:1-6 NKJV

Saul was a tent maker who had wandered blindly unto God's job site. Like a visitor up at night in a strange house stubbing his toe on an unseen end table Paul also stumbled over what God was doing. It's structure was unfamiliar. The stakes that held it up were unyielding.

Saul knew God was using tent making language. In one statement God revealed Paul's unseen and uncommunicated frustration. God gave Him the missing puzzle piece. Saul became Paul. It was 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting...' that was missing.

Life is hard we lack ability to cope wit it because we don't know who Jesus Is. We don't see how He knows us, excepts us and identifies with us. Either we have forgotten or we have never been told. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. Rain may be a blessing to some and a curse to others. The circumstances may seem similar but hearing 'I am Jesus' changes our focus entirely.