“…As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly, a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, `Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’…” –Acts 9:3-4
Bitter and painful may be two words to describe the Supreme Court’s final decision on the ouster of former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, but she has no other option but to accept her fate, move on, and pursue life as an ordinary lawyer. That is, of course, on the condition her former colleagues on the high court allow her to remain a qualified lawyer.
Sereno currently faces a disbarment case on account of fiery accusations she made against the Supreme Court, which, as her former colleagues claim, constituted an attack on the body’s integrity as an institution of justice.
As I see it, the case for disbarment is terribly compelling. Many still believe the court is not going to go easy on her and, if that eventuality happens, it would not be the end of the world for the former justice. I believe God has another direction for her, and it does not lie in government, He wants her as his worker, or preacher – the noblest calling of all.
Affliction before becoming a great worker of God
History is undeniably replete with countless examples of great workers or preachers of God that first underwent suffering and persecution, with much of the difficulty and hardship sent by God. A primary example was the fiery and rather tumultuous conversion of a lawyer from olden times.
Talented and possessing a great legal mind, the lawyer named Saul, personally and by his own choice, led the persecution, inflicted suffering, and the killing of those who believed and placed their faith in Jesus as their God and savior. One particularly remarkable story that remains vivid in my mind about Saul pertains to when he presided over the killing, by brutal and merciless stoning, of a believer named Stephen.
When the appointed time came, however, Jesus gave Saul a terrible twist of fate. While he was travelling towards places where believers of Jesus inhabited, a great light blinded him, causing him to become paralytic and unable to move on his own or do anything else for himself. He even had to be guided from a place where his eyesight was taken to another town.
God sends sufferings to those He has chosen
The tragedy that virtually made Saul a crippled man is nothing but unfortunate. He was of great stature and enjoyed a good life, but was “killed” when his eyesight was taken away, which left him inutile.
It did not take long, however, before God showed Saul the blindness was his way of leading him towards a new direction in life – one of a worker or preacher, who proclaims and defends Jesus as God and savior. If we consider the fact that one-third of the Bible was written by Saul, whose name Jesus later transformed into Paul, his loss of eyesight proved to be a blessing, with a divine and noble purpose to boot.
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