Alive - by Dave Smith

he was doing and where he was heading. Later recalling his
encounter on the Damascus Road, he recounts how the voice from
heaven said, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you
to kick against the goads’ (Acts 26:14b). A goad was a sharp stick
used to prod young oxen, and it seems as if Jesus had been prodding
and pursuing Saul. 7 We don’t know what those ‘goads’ were – maybe
Saul’s own internal doubts about his actions, perhaps intensified by
the shining example of the martyred Stephen. What seems evident,
though, is that Saul was not fully ‘at peace’ with the direction that his
life was taking.
I can certainly relate to this. Even though I didn’t fully encounter
Jesus until I was a student at the church in central Oxford, I can see
with hindsight that the Lord had been ‘prodding’ me for many years.
There was an overall sense of my conscience being alerted that much
of what I was doing and where I was heading was somehow ‘not
right’. There were also a few specific occasions when it was evident
that the Lord was trying to draw me to himself. One incident comes
to mind. I remember going as part of a church youth group to a
dramatic production of Saul’s story. I don’t remember the details,
other than it was in a central London theatre, and that at a particular
point during the dramatic presentation of the Damascus Road
encounter, I sensed the Lord somehow drawing me. Sadly, I didn’t
know how to respond, which led to several more years of wayward
living and wasted potential that was harmful to me – and to others.
PAUSE AND PONDER
Before we move on, take a moment to consider whether
you can relate to anything similar – either a general sense
of ‘conviction’, or specific instances when, with hindsight,