Yesterday Luke concluded by telling us that after being struck blind on the Damascus road, Saul of Tarsus was blind for three days and did not eat or drink anything. Saul was praying as he fasted, as Luke will tell us shortly. I think during those three days of blindness all he could do was look inward and take stock of his life. He had to reevaluate everything he stood for. He had to consider all the crimes he had committed against the people of Christ. He had to look at everything he knew and had heard about Jesus Christ, the Christ he had rejected, in a new light. And as he did these things I think he was deep in prayer, repenting of his sins and beginning to build a relationship with Jesus.
While Saul and the Lord work things out between them, the Lord is working to send a godly man to Saul's aid. Our God is so big that He can be with each one of us personally at the same time! Such a thing is difficult for our mortal minds to comprehend, but this is how He works and I'm thankful for it. Saul needs a Christian man to come help and encourage him. God knows just the man he wants to send. At the same time He's making Saul ready to receive this visitor He's making the visitor ready to go.
"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. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.'" (Acts 9:10-12) The Lord created humans to need each other. He doesn't expect us to go it alone without the fellowship of others. It's unhealthy for us. Even Jesus, the Son of the living God, had close friends while He walked this earth. Saul needs a Christian to come and extend the hand of fellowship to him because, after persecuting the church, he wouldn't dare approach the Christian community with an offer of friendship. He would consider himself unworthy of their friendship, so someone must go to him and show him the love and acceptance of Christ.
Ananias naturally has some concerns about approaching the man who has been persecuting the church. "'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.'" (Acts 9:13-14) Have you ever tried to argue with the Lord? I have. I've said things like, "I know what You're saying, Lord, but...." I can't blame Ananias for his fears. The entire Christian community has heard the name of Saul of Tarsus. The entire Christian community knows about the death of Stephen. It's natural that Ananias is afraid, but God is about to strengthen his faith through obedience. Ananias will be afraid, but he will do what God says.
"But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go! This man is My chosen instrument to proclaim My name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much He must suffer for My name.'" (Acts 9:15-16) Saul, after he becomes the Apostle Paul, will consider himself unworthy to be called an apostle and will give all the credit for his position to the grace of God. (1 Corinthians 15:9) That's all any of us can say about anything we will ever do for Christ's kingdom: "By the grace of God I am what I am." (1 Corinthians 15:10)
"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.'" (Acts 9:17) Ananias obeys the Lord even though he may have been shaking in his sandals as he did so. We don't want to fail to give credit to the bravery of this man. He is a hero of the faith.
What music it must have been to Saul's ears to have this Christian man call him "brother"! Saul hated men like Ananias before he saw the light. Ananias is one of the men Saul probably would have seized and taken back to Jerusalem as a prisoner. But now, through Christ, they are brothers.
"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." (Acts 9:18-19) Spiritually speaking, we all had scales over our eyes before we came to believe in the truth of Christ. Now we are able to learn of Him, to see new things in the Scriptures we never understood before, and to grow closer to Him and to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
If God could take a man like Saul of Tarsus and turn him into Paul the Apostle, what can He do with you and me? If God didn't think Saul had sinned too much to be transformed into a soldier of Christ, He certainly doesn't think you and I have sinned too much to be used to build Christ's kingdom. There's nothing in your past or mine that God can't handle. There's nothing in our past that disqualifies us to be children of God through Christ Jesus our Lord.
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