As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”– Acts 9:3-9 (NLT)
The other evening as I was channel surfing, The Green Mile, starring Tom Hanks, was airing on one of the channels. Now I have seen this movie countless times over the years. It’s one of my favorites. But despite the number of times I’ve seen it, I still never grow tired of it. I know the characters. I know the script so well that I can almost recite the lines by heart. Obviously I know the storyline and how it ends. And perhaps that’s why I stop changing the channels and tune in whenever it’s on tv. It’s a great flick, no doubt. But there’s also familiarity and comfort with the characters, storyline, and ending.
Sometimes, however, I can get into the pitfall of reading stories in the Bible with that same familiarity and comfort that I get with watching old movies I’ve seen dozens of times. I know the characters; I know the verses well enough that I can recite them by heart; I know what to expect. I become so familiar with the text that I have a tendency to gloss over something really meaningful.
So as I was reading the story of Saul’s encounter with Christ on the Road to Damascus this evening, something stood out to me that I had overlooked the many times I had read it before. And it was something so simple! I mean, it’s right there. It had been hidden from my eyes all these years, despite even the Red Lettering! And it reveals so much to us about the nature of God.
“Get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (v.6).
- Get up.
- Go.
The Lord’s instructions were so simple that even a small child can understand them. There was no need to give Saul all of the specifics. He was simply dropping breadcrumbs for Saul and his companions to follow. “Get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” That was all Jesus said.
So, so simple. These breadcrumbs would ultimately lead Saul to a new life as Paul the apostle, responsible for writing nearly one quarter of the Bible and establishing 14 early Christian churches.
When Cornelius, the Roman soldier, was directed by the Holy Spirit to send three men to go get Peter (who was staying at Simon the Tanner’s house in Joppa), the Lord’s Spirit spoke to Peter: “Three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.” – Acts 10:19-20
The Lord gave Peter three simple commands:
- Get up.
- Go downstairs.
- Go with them.
The only details Peter was given was that he was to go with them immediately, and that he would be protected. The Lord dropped breadcrumbs for Peter to follow, and the result was that Cornelius and his entire household accepted Christ, becoming the first Gentiles to be saved and baptized in the New Testament.
And again… we see more breadcrumbs in Acts chapter 8, when an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza” (v.26). No explanation, just a simple instruction and some breadcrumbs. Philip didn’t argue or ask why. He just went. And when he got there, he saw an Ethiopian eunuch riding by in a chariot and reading the book of Isaiah. The Spirit told Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”
- Go south down the desert road.
- Go over and walk alongside the chariot.
Two basic commands. Philip obeyed, and the Ethiopian heard Philip explain the gospel of Christ to him and was baptized as a result.
The Lord doesn’t give us the entire loaf of bread all at once. He knows that we would choke to death on it! So he gives us little breadcrumbs of information. Very subtle, very simple, very easy to follow. And these two stories highlight for us just how different our nature is from God’s.
And as it relates to real-life application, this is so not my nature! I need to know the characters. I need to know the script and the storyline. I need to know how it all ends. I need the details, man! The more, the better. That way I can call an audible and change things up, because I may not care too much for God’s storyline and his play-calling, and I may especially not like the ending.
And God knows this about me. He knows this about all of us. He knows that we’re all hardwired to need to know everything. And He knows that if I can’t be faithful in eating a few breadcrumbs, there’s no way I can be trusted with the whole loaf. These precious little breadcrumbs encourage me to take small steps of faith, without needing to know all the details, without needing to see the end result. Drink from the garden hose, Scott, not the fireman’s hose.
So… there’s value in sitting down with our Bibles and setting aside everything we think we already know as we read. Familiarity breeds comfort, and there is indeed comfort there that we need. But sometimes we can get too comfortable and miss out on some of the most simple details about God…
…things as simple as little crumbs of bread that build our faith while leading us in obedience to Him.
Former Blackout Artist 