John Piper in a sermon, “Jesus Still Turns Things Around” brings this encouragement from Acts 9, our reading for today:
Luke drives this home by showing the persecutor becoming the persecuted. First, in verse 23 Luke tells us that the Jews in Damascus plotted to kill him. The hunter becomes the hunted. And he escapes (v. 25) in a basket through the wall. Second, in verse 29 Luke tells us that the Hellenists in Jerusalem were seeking to kill Saul. The hunter becomes the hunted. And he escapes by taking a ship to Tarsus.
And the upshot of this amazing turn around? Verse 31: “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up.”
Nobody would have dreamed it could happen—and happen so suddenly. Persecution, violence, conspiracy, suspicion, scattering—and then suddenly, out of the blue, Jesus turns things around. That’s the way he is and that is the way we should think about life.
God Is Turning Things Around All Over the World
He is the same today as he was then. He is surprising people and nations all over the world. He is alive and he is turning things around.
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 