On his way to make an even larger name for himself, the laser of Our Lord God’s presence stopped him in his tracks, striking him blind. Like that group of shepherds faithfully watching their sheep years earlier on another heavy night outside Jerusalem, Saul and his companions slid to the ground, shocked. You get the news in the middle of the night on the phone, and you cannot move. As the cop describes the head-on collision, you stand frozen in denial. After hearing the word “cancer,” you are so startled you can barely walk out the doctor’s office doors. A pal once admitted to me that, after hearing his feared diagnosis, he stumbled to the men’s room, puked, collapsed to his knees, and sobbed frantically. Life’s unexpected jolts grip us with such fear we will be able to scarcely go on. For the 1st time in his proud, self-sustained life, Saul found himself a desperate dependent.

Not only was he pinned to the ground, he was blind.

His other senses were on alert and, to his awe, he heard a voice from heaven say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” ( Acts 9:4 ). Instead, he found out that the true object of his evil savagery was Christ Himself. It is the sort of shoddy religion that commends God sits on the edge of heaven thinking, Wonder what they will do next.

From the instant we are conceived to the instant we die, we remain safely in the frame of His watchful gawk and His sovereign plan for us.