01/24/2023
This morning I contemplate our being chosen by God for a life and relationship with Jesus; even as much as we ourselves choose to live that life and love our Lord. I think about Saul becoming Paul and his more intense selection by Jesus. After Saul had been struck down in the midst of his noon day prayers, and blinded, he was told to go into Jerusalem and wait there for instructions. Are we chosen, are we humbled, or do we obey, and go humbly without struggling to meet Him?
“Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”
Acts 9:8-9 - ESV
In the meantime there was a disciple named Ananias who answered a vision by saying "Here I am, Lord". Ananias knew who Saul was, he told Jesus in prayer of his concerns when he was asked to visit him in Damascus...
“But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name."”
Acts 9:13-14 ESV
Ananias was afraid of Saul and disliked what he did to those who believed in Jesus, and yet he was being asked to go into this man's place of strength and reveal himself as a Christian...
“But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."”
Acts 9:15-16 ESV
So what should Ananias do? Should he go? Ananias put fear behind him and went, and when he arrived he spoke as Jesus instructed him...
“So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."”
Acts 9:17 ESV
It was at this point that Saul became a believer and realized he had truly been chosen...
“And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.”
Acts 9:18-19 ESV
How have you been chosen? Did Jesus have to strike you in some way? Did He blind you to the world? Did He send the Holy Spirit to move over you? Did a disciple like Ananias come to you? Or, did He simply reveal himself to you through The Word, and you chose to follow Him? However it occurred, you were chosen by the Lord even in those minutes when you thought you were choosing Him.
Love can be unrequited, but Relationships require two participants in order to form. In order for Saul to enter into a relationship with Christ he had to be led to believe, and, although not as dramatic for most of us, it happens in our lives too; we are also led to believe.
So we choose to believe, and God chooses us. In this exchange, this handshake, or embrace, our relationship begins. Then through many lessons and perhaps suffering, we find ourselves in the shoes of Ananias... will we, in the moment of our own fear, answer boldly, "Here I am, Lord" and go into a place of discomfort or danger... trusting solely in Him?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for choosing me and revealing yourself so that I might choose you as well. I am grateful Lord that you didn't have to strike me blind as you did Saul, but I also know that if that had been necessary, our relationship and your love would have been worth that price... any price. You are the focus of my life, and if you call me to some task outside my comfort zone I pray that my faith will be sufficient to overcome my fear, and that my trust in you will be without doubt or reservation. Holy, Holy, Holy are you our God who calls us to Himself. Holy Father, I praise you on my own road to Jerusalem, in the house of Pilot, and from the very foot of the cross. Your choice of me exceeds my understanding and yet in it I offer you my humble thanks and my life in return.
Rich Forbes