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“And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus…that if he found any of this way…he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1-2).
“In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend [arrest] me: and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands” (2 Corinthians 11:32-33).
When I was young, I used to think that this event in the Apostle Paul’s life would have been rather exciting: to be trapped in a walled city guarded by soldiers, and to escape by being let down in a basket like this.
However, it is recorded for us because it was probably one of the most humiliating experiences Paul ever had. Remember that he had ridden to the city on horseback, a proud man, and at the head of a band soldiers who came to arrest any Christians they found. Now, having become a believer himself, he is compelled to sneak out of the city at night, let down in a basket, in order to avoid being arrested himself. All his pride was gone; he was now a persecuted man, and despised by this world.
All this is a good lesson for us. If we want to follow Christ, the world will despise us, and it is a humbling experience. But it is worth it, for we have Christ!
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