Acts 9:10-19
Acts 9:10-19
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
There are times in our lives as believers that the Lord asks us to do things that we are very uncomfortable doing. God, in His sovereignty, choses to call people to Himself and use them in the expansion of His kingdom in ways that often surprise or even scare us. We are always limited to our own experience and limited information. God has no such limitations. He knows everything about everyone and is in complete control of how He is working through all people and all circumstance to accomplish His will. We can trust that He knows what He is doing even when nothing makes sense to us.
GOD CALLS ANANIAS TO GO TO SAUL: The news that Saul was coming to Damascus to persecute the church arrived before he did. Ananias and the other believers must have been praying for deliverance. Some might have praying that he would be prevented from coming by an illness or other factor. However, I believe that some of the believers in Damascus were praying for God to save him and change his heart. God answered both of those prayers by striking him with blindness and by bringing Saul to Himself. Now God calls Ananias to go to Saul and heal him of the blindness. This could not have been an easy call to obey. At the same time God was appearing to Saul in a dream informing him of a man named Ananias that would come and restore his sight. God prepares the hearts of people to hear as well as to speak. When we feel prompted of the Lord to tell them about Christ, we should presume that God is at work in their lives to prepare them for the message of the Gospel.
GOD COUNSELS ANANIAS ABOUT SAUL: The doubts that Ananias had about Saul were well founded. His actions and reputation were those of a man on a mission of persecution. However, God is in the business of changing lives. God assures Ananias that He has chosen Saul to be his instrument to proclaim the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles and the rulers of the Gentiles. Saul would be as zealous for the Gospel as he had been for persecution and would suffer greatly because of it. God’s counsel to Ananias is simple: Go! God had already decided what He would do, but He uses human instruments to accomplish His purposes. Ananias was an instrument God wanted to use to reach Saul. Saul was an instrument God wanted to use to reach Gentile nations. You and I are instruments God wants to use to reach others. His requirement for us being usable in His hands it to “GO!”
GOD CURES SAUL THROUGH ANANIAS: Ananias obeys the Lord, goes to Saul, heals him, and baptizes him as his brother in Christ. The past is of little consequence between people who have become siblings in Christ. No matter what atrocities a person has committed prior to coming to Christ, once they become believers, all that is forgotten at the cross. Saul was immediately healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, and then was willing to eat and regain his strength. How he must have been relieved on so many levels. Relieved to be able to see again. Relieved that his sins were forgiven. Relieved that those whom he had been persecuting were accepting him as a brother. Relieved to be a child of God and have assurance for the first time of his eternal destiny. This is the glory of the Gospel. It changes us at the deepest levels of our being. This is the powerful truth that we have been commissioned to proclaim wherever we go.
APPLICATION: Trust that the Lord is at work in all the circumstances of life we might face. Even when things seem difficult or even dangerous, trust in His care and provision. Speak to others of the grace of God and know that God is at work to prepare the hearts of people to believe the Gospel and be transformed. Look for God to transform the lives of people around us and to transform our own lives for His glory.
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