The story of Paul's salvation experience has always intrigued me. Known as Saul for most of his life, Paul was in the business of persecuting the church until Jesus met with him on the road to Damascus and changed his heart. He was struck blind and for three days he remained in an intense fast, apparently waiting on the Lord for His next move.
The Lord spoke to a man named Ananias and told him to lay hands on Paul and give to him God's instruction, and when he did Paul's sight was restored and he also had a new vision given to him by God: Paul was to be an apostle and an evangelist.
What strikes me at this point in the story is what Paul did next. After fasting from food and water for 3 days, there is no doubt that hunger and dehydration were a factor. But instead of eating a meal right away, Paul chose to be baptized instead so that his salvation could be publicly acknowledged by all. Only then did he choose to sit and eat to regain his strength.
There are times when I choose other things to fill me first before I come before God. I know that I need to have my personal Bible study but first, let me check my email and my Facebook page. To an extent, we do this in church when we insist on having snacks before we begin small group Bible study.
I'm not saying that checking email and having coffee and doughnuts are bad, but they aren't the most important thing. Jesus is. Paul didn't care about his physical needs. He was chomping at the bit to feed off of the feast that Jesus was laying before him. I pray that this is always the desire of my heart as well.
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