Daily Devotion

 

This is a vivid example of how much a few words in the biblical narrative may imply. Luke says that after some time in Damascus these things happened. The period in that passing phrase was no less than three years ( Galatians1:18 ). For three years Paul worked and preached in Damascus, and the Jews were so determined to kill him that they even set a guard at the gates so that he could not escape. But the ancient cities had walls that were often thick enough for a chariot to be driven around the top of them. In these walls, there were houses whose windows often projected beyond the walls. In the dead of the night, Paul was taken into one of these houses, let down with ropes in a basket and so smuggled out of Damascus and then set on his way to Jerusalem. Paul is only at the gateway of his adventures for Jesus, but even here he is escaping with his life by the skin of his teeth!

 

It is also a witness to the effectiveness of Paul's preaching. He was so unanswerable that the Jews, helpless in debate, resorted to violence. No one persecutes a man who is ineffective. George Bernard Shaw once said, "The biggest compliment you can pay an author is to burn his books." Someone else said, "A wolf will never attack a painted sheep. "Counterfeit Christianity is always safe; real Christianity is always in peril. To suffer persecution is to be paid the greatest of all compliments because it is the certain proof that men think we really matter.