Brian Foreman
CBF Coordinator of Congregational Ministries, GA
The conversion of Saul receives lots of attention in Scripture. However, there is a figure in the middle of this story with whom I resonate more each time I encounter the story. Ananias has a dream from God inviting him to go restore Saul’s vision and deliver a message of instruction from God. I cannot help but read his response to God in verse 13 in the voice of a somewhat sarcastic college student: “Lord, I have heard from many about this man!”
Consider it: God tells him to go to the most oppressive member of the Jewish religious leaders and make sure he’s all fixed up. In fact, God even tells Saul that Ananias is coming to him. I would have been sarcastic with God just to hide my fear. And yet what does Ananias do? He acts faithfully and goes to Saul. We probably do not give ordinary people credit for heroic acts like this; and yet it is Ananias that forms me to be courageous when being faithful, even in hard situations. He must have considered arrest or even death as a real possibility. That is a far more significant response to his faithfulness than any rebuke or rejection I might face.
Pray...Give...Go.