Who Are You, Lord?

Hey, welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. The devotional for today titled Who Are You, Lord?

was written by Kenneth Peterson. At age 16, Luis Rodriguez had already been in jail for selling crack. But now, arrested for attempted murder, he was in prison again looking at a life sentence. But God spoke into his guilty circumstances. Behind bars, young Luis remembered his early years when his mother had faithfully taken him to church.

He now felt God tugging at his heart. Luis eventually repented of his sins and came to Jesus. In the book of Acts, we meet a zealous Jewish man named Saul who was also called Paul. He was guilty of aggravated assault on believers in Jesus and had murder in his heart.

There's evidence he was a kind of gang leader and part of the mob at the execution of Stephen. But God spoke into Saul's guilty circumstances, literally. On the street leading into Damascus, Saul was blinded by a light, and Jesus said to him, Why do you persecute me?

Saul asked, Who are you, Lord? And that was the beginning of his new life. He came to Jesus.

Luis Rodriguez served time but eventually was granted parole. Since then, he served God, devoting his life to prison ministry in the United States and Central America. God specializes in redeeming the worst of us. He tugs at our hearts and speaks into our guilt-drenched lives. Maybe it's time we repent of our sins and come to Jesus. Now hear the word of the Lord.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is taken from Acts chapter 9, verses 1 through 9. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied.

Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

For three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything. Let's pray. Jesus, we have all strayed from you. We have all sinned against you. But in our wandering we can feel you tugging at our heart. Would you forgive us of our sins and lead us back to you? Thank you, Lord. It's in your name, Jesus, that we pray. Amen.