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Daily Devotion: Galatians 1:23-24

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Galatians 1:23-24    "But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.  (24)  And they glorified God in me."

In the previous verses, Paul describes his experience of conversion.  "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen..." (Galatians 1:15-16)   I think most of us marvel at the manner in which the Lord Jesus revealed Himself unto Paul (Saul) as he traveled on the road to Damascus.  We might easily wonder why the Lord did not reveal Himself long before that time.  It's easy to get caught up in questions that really have no human answer. Why did He allow Stephen to be stoned at the consent of Saul? Why were men and women taken to prison because of their confessed faith in Jesus Christ? Why were so many others driven from their homes to lands that were completely strange to them? The list of questions goes on and on, but there is only one answer in which I can find rest: God was ultimately glorified in the Apostle Paul.

Maybe it should be enough for us to realize that our Lord is able to change the most crude and vile people and "call them by His grace."  He had a reason and a purpose in calling Saul from darkness to light "when it pleased" Him.  We somehow get confused on that issue and think life is all about our pleasure, but you and I were created for God's pleasure. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13) I see great joy expressed by the Apostle Paul as I read the last verse of Galatians, chapter 1.... "they glorified God in me."  Would that not be the most wonderful statement to be said about any of us?  May Christ be glorified in me in all things!

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