The Right Plan | Acts 9

Welcome to Real Life. Whose plan are we following?

“I'm sorry, did I roll my eyes out loud?”

–Anonymous

We are living in an era of anger and hostility. Someone aptly described it as the “age of outrage.” People are easily offended, and quick to cancel—punish, shame, humiliate, or terminate—those who offend.

Outrage, of course, is not unique to our times. In the days of the early church, Saul of Tarsus was fueled by righteous indignation. He knew the Scriptures. He had studied the Law and the Prophets under Gamaliel, the most highly respected rabbi of the first century. Saul felt a personal responsibility to guard the Jewish faith and traditions from heresy. He considered the disciples of Jesus Christ to be dangerous and offensive. For he believed they were deceiving Jews with their message of grace, forgiveness, and salvation through faith in Christ rather than in meticulous obedience to the Law. He set out to cancel the Christians.

Thus, Saul began zealously persecuting the early church. He witnessed and approved the stoning of the first martyr Stephen. He arrested every believer he could find in Jerusalem. This, however, failed to satisfy Saul. He approached the high priest and obtained letters to the synagogues in Damascus granting him permission to arrest Christians there, and drag them back to Jerusalem to be imprisoned.

Saul was following his plan. The problem is Saul was not following God’s plan. Although Saul sincerely believed he was God’s man, doing God’s work, he was actually fighting against the Lord.

On his journey to Damascus, God begins to reveal his plan to Saul. A light flashes from heaven. Saul hits the dirt. A voice calls out, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

The men traveling with Saul are dumbstruck. They hear the sound, but see no one. Saul rises and opens his eyes only to discover he is blind. His men must lead him by hand into Damascus. There, God employs Saul’s physical blindness to illuminate his spiritual blindness. Instead of arresting Christians, Saul fasts and prays for three days. The plan has changed hands. 

In the meantime, Jesus appears in a vision to Ananias, a Christian living in Damascus. He gives clear instructions, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street. Ask for Saul of Tarsus. Pray for him to receive his sight.”

“But, Lord,” Ananias protests, “I know this man and all the harm he’s done to your holy people in Jerusalem. He’s come here to arrest all who call on your name.”

Ananias Prays for Paul

“Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Ananias obeys. Saul receives his sight, and more importantly, he receives the Holy Spirit. He is baptized. After spending some days with the disciples in Damascus, Saul immediately begins preaching: Jesus is the Son of God!

Lately, the church brims with righteous indignation. We are offended by the shameless immorality that has gone mainstream. Many Christians are zealously fighting for God's laws, his ways, and his truth in our wayward world. We absolutely need to stand for righteousness. But perhaps we also need to stop and consider how to accomplish this. Like Saul, are we following God’s plan or our own? Anger feels powerful. Yet, it can do more harm than good.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:

Everyone should be quick to listen,

slow to speak and slow to become angry,

because human anger does not produce

the righteousness that God desires.

(James 1:19-20 NIV)

Back to the first century... Now fueled by the Holy Spirit, Saul (later known as Paul) fully commits to God’s plan. He becomes the early church’s most effective missionary to the Gentiles. Paul writes the majority of the New Testament epistles to the new church plants. And may we never forget, as the Lord promised Ananias, how intensely Paul suffered for his Savior Jesus Christ. The persecutor became the persecuted:

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

(2 Corinthians 11:23-28)

This is not man’s plan. This is, however, God’s plan.

Dear Lord Jesus,
Your ways are not our ways.
I confess. At times, I am not much different than Saul.
I have reacted in anger and self-righteousness.
I have followed my plan, fully convinced it was your plan.
Open my eyes. Restore my sight.
“Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.”[1]
I love you, and want to obey you.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.


Image:  By Anthony M. from Rome, Italy - Ananias Restoring the Sight of St Paul, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2986580 

[1] From the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision” by Dallan Forgaill (530-598)