So
ill informed was Saul, that he thought he ought to do all he could against the
name of Christ, and that he did God service thereby; he seemed to breathe in
this as in his element. Let us not despair of renewing grace for the conversion
of the greatest sinners, nor let such despair of the pardoning mercy of God for
the greatest sin. It is a signal token of Divine favour, if God, by the inward
working of his grace, or the outward events of his providence, stops us from
prosecuting or executing sinful purposes. Saul saw that Just One. How near to us
is the unseen world! It is but for God to draw aside the veil, and objects are
presented to the view, compared with which, whatever is most admired on earth is
mean and contemptible. Saul submitted without reserve, desirous to know what the
Lord Jesus would have him to do. Christ's discoveries of himself to poor souls
are humbling; they lay them very low, in mean thoughts of themselves. For three
days Saul took no food, and it pleased God to leave him for that time without
relief. His sins were now set in order before him; he was in the dark concerning
his own spiritual state, and wounded in spirit for sin. When a sinner is brought
to a proper sense of his own state and conduct, he will cast himself wholly on
the mercy of the Saviour, asking what he would have him to do. God will direct
the humbled sinner, and though he does not often bring transgressors to joy and
peace in believing, without sorrows and distress of conscience, under which the
soul is deeply engaged as to eternal things, yet happy are those who sow in
tears, for they shall reap in joy. - Matthew Henry
So
ill informed was Saul, that he thought he ought to do all he could against the
name of Christ, and that he did God service thereby; he seemed to breathe in
this as in his element. Let us not despair of renewing grace for the conversion
of the greatest sinners, nor let such despair of the pardoning mercy of God for
the greatest sin. It is a signal token of Divine favour, if God, by the inward
working of his grace, or the outward events of his providence, stops us from
prosecuting or executing sinful purposes. Saul saw that Just One. How near to us
is the unseen world! It is but for God to draw aside the veil, and objects are
presented to the view, compared with which, whatever is most admired on earth is
mean and contemptible. Saul submitted without reserve, desirous to know what the
Lord Jesus would have him to do. Christ's discoveries of himself to poor souls
are humbling; they lay them very low, in mean thoughts of themselves. For three
days Saul took no food, and it pleased God to leave him for that time without
relief. His sins were now set in order before him; he was in the dark concerning
his own spiritual state, and wounded in spirit for sin. When a sinner is brought
to a proper sense of his own state and conduct, he will cast himself wholly on
the mercy of the Saviour, asking what he would have him to do. God will direct
the humbled sinner, and though he does not often bring transgressors to joy and
peace in believing, without sorrows and distress of conscience, under which the
soul is deeply engaged as to eternal things, yet happy are those who sow in
tears, for they shall reap in joy. - Matthew Henry