God's Calling: Galatians 1:13-17
When God calls us, He frequently calls us to take time to grow and develop before He calls us into action. This should make sense. Whenever I feel like doing something new, how can I hope to be successful if I don’t take time to learn and grow? Jesus’ own disciples learned under Jesus for a couple years before Jesus died and commissioned the disciples to carry on His work.
Paul speaks about his persecution of the church. He doesn’t paint himself in a very good light. He persecuted the followers of Christ, doing everything possible to squash the message of salvation and treat it like a harmful cult.
What can be learned? God cares about our past, but He is willing to not make it a barrier to having a future with Him. Few people persecuted the first followers of Jesus as harshly as Paul, yet God goes to Paul and invites him into relationship. God invites Paul to do God’s work rather than oppose it. God will happily receive those who oppose Him so long as those who oppose Him are open to change.
This is good news. God doesn’t expect perfection. God doesn’t even require us to make the first move. He comes to us regardless of our situation and gives us opportunity to come to Him. When the Bible says God is love, it means it. God’s love is great enough to embrace us even if we oppose Him.
After Paul’s time in Damascus, he heads off into Arabia. We don’t know exactly what Paul means because Paul doesn’t give much detail. His trip to Arabia is not well recorded in historical documents, either. Paul isn’t on a power trip. He doesn’t go to Jerusalem to get in with the leaders of the early church. He doesn’t introduce himself to Peter or James or John. Paul goes into Arabia and does quiet work.
We can speculate reasonably about what his time in Arabia looked like. It probably consisted of personal reflection. Paul likely spent time studying the Law and the Prophets, figuring out how the message of Christ fits with the Hebrew scriptures. He probably did some soul searching about God’s calling. There may have been some early preaching.
Paul gives God space to develop and shape him. He takes time to understand, comprehend, and probably ask many questions from whomever he stayed with in Arabia. He gave God space to allow ideas to take root and grow.
When God steps into our life, we often feel the need to go out and act. What we see in Paul’s life is different. God often calls us to discern and develop before acting. Before Paul could go into the world, he needed to be trained and have his faith strengthened. When God calls us, He frequently calls us to take time to grow and develop before He calls us into action.
