TD Jakes - The Light That Blinds Us
I had a thought this week, I will share with you. I think it is noteworthy and worth perhaps writing down or tweeting. It is amazing what God will hide from a man. When Saul woke up that morning, he didn't know his life was about to be changed. When he got out the bed and started putting on his clothes, he didn't know that he was about to make a U-turn in his entire destiny, and the entire rest of his life was going to be changed by this decision. When he started down the Damascus road, he didn't know that he was going to have an encounter there that would change the rest of his life.
It is amazing what God will hide from a man. When he started down the road, he didn't know that he would be Paul. He didn't know that he would be an apostle. He didn't know that he would preach to the Gentiles. He didn't know that he would give us most of the New Testament. He didn't know that he would establish the New Testament church. He didn't know the many things that he would suffer for the gospel, and he didn't know that he would become one of the very people that he had once hated. He didn't know. It's amazing what God will hide from a man.
And the other thing I thought is, it's amazing what God will hide in a man. He didn't know that the books that were in him would become the Bible that validated the very people he was trying to kill. He didn't know that God would give him mysteries that superseded intellectualism. He didn't know that God would expose him to revelations that went beyond anything that he had ever studied written by man. He didn't know that he would have so many mysteries that some of them would go to the grave with him, because he said they were not lawful to be uttered. He didn't know that he would be translated into the spirit up into the third heaven. He didn't know that they would leave him for dead and he would literally leave out of his body and walk in glory with angels and spirits, and come back with things that he had to put his hand over his mouth to hide.
It is possible that you could be more than you suspected. It is possible that God could have more in you than what the books say, than what your classmates said, than what your family said, than what your husband said, than what your ex-wife said. It is possible that God has hid more in you than what you ever realized. That might be why the devil is fighting you, because he knows God has something. Touch three people and say, "There's something in me. There's something in me". There's something in me. There's something in me. There's something in me. There's something in me. There's something in me. I don't have no details, but there's something in me. I can't describe it, but there's something in me. I don't know how to act on it, but there's something in me. I don't know what to do about it, but there's something in me. I don't know who to tell about it, but there's something in me. I tried telling my brothers, but they tried to kill me, but I do know that there's something inside of me.
Is there anybody in here that's been haunted all of your life, because you knew there was something? My God, I feel like preaching. Slap your neighbor and tell 'em, "There's somethin' in me". It is not that I'm so holy. It's not that I'm so perfect. It's not that I'm so good. It's not that I'm so righteous. I wanted to be doggy. I wanted to lay down. I did it. I tried to stay. But every time I tried to stay, something picked me up and turned me around. I don't even understand it, but there it is. Do not think that I am some special person. I am flesh and blood like you, like Paul, like all of us, and that is what is so strange about this. That God would hide such treasure in such trash. I serve a God who hides treasure in the trash. He doesn't put it in the vault. He doesn't put it in the bank. He puts it in the garbage can. He says I'm gonna put it right there. It does not yet appear what you... oh, I want to appeal to somebody who is haunted by the fact that there's something in you.
You know there's something in you. You tried to run, because there's something in you. You tried to hide, because there's something in you. You tried to forget that there was something in you. You tried to be satisfied to stay where you are, but there's something nagging down inside of you that says I was put here for more than what I'm experiencing right now. This life is not my life. What I'm doing is not what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm called to a higher purpose. Shout if you understand me. I was in the club and somebody dreamed I was preaching. I was drunk sitting at the bar, drinking a Tom Collins, about to smoke this joint back in the alley, when somebody said, "Man, I had a dream you was preaching". I ran out of the night club, because it confirmed something I was running from. I was running, I was running, I was running, because I could not understand the dichotomy of how.
How could God put such treasure in such trash? I'm old enough now. I can tell you the story that we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of God and not of us. The one thing I'm sure, this ain't me. It is not in me to do this. I didn't wanna do this. I don't even like doing this. I would have opened up a club. It'd had been a big club. It could've been The Potter's Club. It wouldn't be no church. Who wants to go through all the hell of being a preacher? I used to throw the kind of parties that would blow your mind. You could come in the room. Just being in the room would bless you. I was not on my way to this, but when you get on the Damascus road, stuff happens to you. God has a way of turning you life... oh, I feel like preaching, y'all in trouble now. God has a way.
The Lord told me if I would preach this message, there would be somebody here that God is getting ready to turn your life completely upside down. Upside down and around. That everything, every advantage, every opportunity, every door, every intellect, let him go, everything, let him go, let him go, let him go. Everything, everything you thought was going to turn out one way, it's gonna turn out another way. And the Lord told me to preach this, this Sunday morning, in this church to, this people, because you thought you were on West Kiest. No, you are on the Damascus road, and all of your plans are about to switch, and everything you thought was going to happen is about the turn all the way around. Your education is not your education. Your gift is not your gift. Your finances are not your finances. It was all a setup. God brought you to this place for a reason.
The light blinded him to humble him. Nothing else would have deterred this strong-willed, overbearing, intellectual, bright, type-A individual. Nothing would have stopped him. It took this kind of tragedy to bring him to his knees. If he could've seen, he would have fought back. If he could have got up, he would have ran away. If he could have talked, he would've talked his way out of it, but, ah! God knows exactly what it takes to bring you to your knees. Help me do it, Jesus. There is somebody in this room, that whatever has happened to you has brought you to your knees. It has arrested your plans. It has gotten your attention. It has disrupted what you expected to happen, and God allowed it. You want to know who it is? Don't be angry at your ex-wife. Don't hate your neighbors next door. Don't hate the person who did what they did. It is not them that you're fighting, it is Jesus, whom thou persecuted.
Pray for me, saints, I'm after somethin.' I'm after somethin.' I'm after somebody, and I can't even see him. I got up out of the bed this morning, and God sent me after somebody. He said I'm going to bring somebody into that service, and I want you to preach them to their knees. I want you to preach to them. They're going to be strong in their will, they're going to be contentious in their spirit, but I want you to preach to them 'til they crumble, because I am after them. I sent the circumstance in your life to blind you, to arrest you, to stop you. Nothing that you normally do is working for you. Nobody that you'd normally depend on is coming through for you. You have power, you have influence, but you have been shut down. And this is the light that blinds us.
My subject is in itself an oxymoron. We don't turn on the lights to go dark. The whole purpose of having light is so I can see. This light made him go dark. What kind of light is this anyway? There is no mention of it being nighttime. What kind of light is so bright that it makes day look dark? What kind of light is this that is so intense, that all of a sudden, Saul of Tarsus falls to his knees? No man likes to fall to his knees, and especially in front of your followers, not in front of my followers. This is humiliating. This is humiliating. For you, this is humiliating. This is humbling. God said, "I'm not gonna stop until you crumble. I'm not gonna stop until you come to your knees. I'm not gonna stop it until you change directions".
You have taken your last step in your own way. Give it to me, Jesus. He fell on his face before God! The people around him heard the voice, but they didn't see the light. This light is for you. Nobody will get it like you get it, 'cause light hurts. That's why we lie to ourselves. We lie to ourselves for the same reason we wear sunglasses. Sunglasses don't change your world, they change your perception. It protects your eyes from what you would see, so you tell the story the way you like to hear it. You are not really remembering what happened. You're remembering how you like to think about it. Because real light, real light will bring you to your knees. Real light will stop you from blaming other people. Real light will stop you from saying it's her fault, and his fault, and their fault, and this fault, and the other falut. Real light, real light, real light will bring you to your knees.
When I used to be on TV, I didn't wear makeup at all, because the lights were not that strong, but with the lights we have now, real light shows every imperfection, until the imperfection becomes a distraction. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not". It's that kind of light. It's plan-wrecking light. It's moving-neighborhood light. It's "sell all you have and give to the poor" light. It's the kind of light that demands something radical. I apologize to the crowd, because I am not here to preach to the masses. Indulge me today, if you will, because I have not come to talk to the crowd, I have come to talk to one person. Are you the one? Are you the one that got up out of bed thinkin' it was gonna be one way, and now you've had an encounter? The light that blinds us. Who is it? Who is it? Who is it?
Whoever you are, you are under arrest. The Holy Spirit has got you surrounded. If I don't finish this message, I don't even care. You gotta come out with your hands up. You gotta come out in total surrender. Who is it? See, you don't remember the old church. The new church knows how to get our praise on, but the old church would produce conviction. If conviction sets up in a house, it'll wreck a service. It'll turn a church upside down. Who is it? It is hard to kick against the prick. The prick was a sharp object that they put in the ox's stall, because the ox could kick the door down. But every time he kicked it, would stick him in his leg and draw blood. And your fighting back is causing you pain.
Who is it? God is calling you this morning. There will be radical change in your life today. You are here for a reason. Everything that you have, God is about to use it in a different way than how you... who is it? Who is it? Your life is not your own. God is gonna make you one of the very people that you used to laugh at. He is calling you to a place of humility, a place of total surrender. It is hard for you to kick against the prick. The light that blinds us.
You have been going through a period where you are blind. You cannot see your way clear. You don't know where to go or what to do. You don't know who to talk to. You are in a state of darkness. Things got so bright that the light went out. This is the light that blinds us. I don't care nothin' about order. I don't care anything about protocol. Who is it? You're on God's hit list. You will never be the same again. God said I'm gonna humble you 'til you say yes. Yes to my will, yes to my Word, yes to my way. You can't pay him off, you can't buy him off. God said, "I want you". Who is it?