Acts 9:15 “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.” Today's episode talks about how God chooses people to do His work that we wouldn't always choose. We often think they aren't worthy to be chosen and yet, they are actually the perfect person. God does not make mistakes. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God Chooses The Most Unlikely People
Acts 9:15 “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.”
This verse comes just after Saul has seen a vision of Jesus and Jesus asked him why He was persecuting Him. Then Saul losses his sight and is told to go into the city and wait to be told what to do. Then the Lord asked one of his disciples to go to Saul. There is a conversation between this disciple and the Lord in Acts 9:10-16: “Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
There are several themes that I see coming across in these verses. First, I always find it interesting when the disciples of God, the ones that get to have a conversation with Him, argue with Him or question Him. I always think I would respond differently and yet, I do get to have conversations with God and I do still question. I mean we are all human and questioning and doubting are definitely human things to do. In these verses Ananias is giving a task to do. God wants him to go and restore Saul’s sight. I wonder if Ananias every healed anyone before? Would this be his first time? Also, Ananias has heard rumors about this person he is supposed to go and heal. Saul’s reputation preceded him. He was not a nice person. He was in that town to collect any believers of Jesus and bring them to jail essentially. He approved the stoning to death of Stephen, one of Jesus’ followers. I can totally understand why Ananias would question this plan. Why he might be scared even. If he goes to heal this man in Jesus’ name, then Saul will know he is a Christian. What if there are ramifications of that?
There are many reasons why we might question the Lord’s plan. I think worrying about our own safety and the possible risk to our life is a pretty big one. It’s interesting how I can silently judge Ananias for questioning God when he is dealing with someone that has stoned fellow believers, and yet I question God when I am completely safe and yet just being asked to step outside of my comfort zone. My life is not in danger and yet I still question God’s plan. I still hesitate to do what I know He is asking me to do. So, why do I always think it is crazy when others question God’s plan? I am the first to say God has a plan. I am the first to encourage someone to step out in faith and do the scary thing God is asking you to do. I am also the first one to hesitate when God asks me to do some things. I am the first one to question and to wonder if I am really the best person to do that. I question if He really knows what He is doing asking me to do that.
In this verse Ananias is actually not questioning his own ability, he is questioning Saul’s worthiness of being healed. This is another thing that we can be quick to judge. We can all question God’s decisions on who He heals, saves, works through. Maybe you know someone really great who died from cancer, or was killed in a car accident when they were a teenager and you also know some pretty terrible people that beat cancer and seem to have everything going for them. In our eyes, these things can seem very unfair and we don’t understand them. They make no sense to us. I don’t understand them either, so I will not be giving you any answers to those questions today. However, I do know that God has a plan and He can use anyone for that plan. I do know when it comes to the question of worthiness, none of us are worthy on our own merit. We can’t judge others because we don’t know their heart, only God can judge as He knows what is in our hearts. You can have someone that seems as nice as can be in public and yet is awful in their private life. You can have someone who is not very nice to people and yet that is because they were wounded and they don’t know any other way.
I saw the movie and read the book called The Shack. If you have not read the book or seen the movie you should check it out, it is so good. Of course the book is better, but the movie does a pretty good job explaining why we shouldn’t judge others. It talks about how we don’t see the whole picture. We can judge the man who is abusing his wife and child, but would we judge that child? What about when that child grows up to abuse his wife and child? We only see a tiny part of who a person really is. I am really noticing this in my class. There are so many different people and they all look like they are doing great. Then when you talk to them you see how they are struggling, how we are all struggling. I shared in class the other day about some of the things that happened when my boys were younger. I had volunteered to run through an exercise on healing a wounded memory. It was really powerful. Afterwards several people approached me and told me they came from a similar situation. You never know by looking at anyone where they came from, what they have been through, or what they are still going through.
That felt a little like I was off on a tangent, but I think someone needed to hear that today. Back to what I was saying, God can use anyone and He often chooses the most unlikely candidate. He tends to use imperfect people, people who have messed up, people who seem broken, people who have struggled, people who have sinned. God uses people who can easily be judged for their faults. These people, people who aren’t perfect (no is perfect by the way), people who have really struggled are actually the perfect people to use because they can speak to those who are also struggling. They are someone you can look at and say, if they could do it, so can I. If someone who grew up with nothing can make something of themselves then I can too. If someone who has been abused was able to get away from that abuse, then so can I. If someone who was an alcoholic can give up alcohol so can I. If someone who is a sinner can be used by God to do amazing things, so can I.
I love the story of Saul in these verses because it gives me faith for my boys. I was always a bit worried because although I know God can do anything and in His timing He would call my boys back to Him, I also know that He honors our free will. I wasn’t sure my boys would ever be searching for Him or looking for Him. What I feel God showed me with these verse is that they don’t have to be looking for Him. Saul was not looking to be the next Pope. He was perfectly happy with his current job and was not in the market for a new one. Yet one encounter with Jesus and He was ready to devote his whole life to Him. This is what I have hope for my boys and for you can too for anyone you are worried about. Just as Anne talked about in the witness yesterday, one encounter with Jesus can change their whole world. Keep praying for them and for this encounter.
Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those who are listening to this episode today. Lord, let them hear exactly what they need to hear today. Lord, help us to not judge others. Give us your heart and your eyes for others Lord. Help us to be compassionate and to know that there is always more to the person than what we are able to see. Lord, give us the boldness to do whatever you ask us to do, even when we are scared, even when we don’t understand it, even if you are asking us to heal a really scary person. Give us the strength and the grace we need to follow your commands no matter how hard we think they are. We can do all things through you who strengthen us! We love you so much Lord. We are grateful you have a plan and you don’t let our questioning it get in the way. We are grateful you use all things for our good and you don’t let us mess up your plan. We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Today I am headed to Hartford CT for a retreat with the Military Council of Catholic Women. I will be speaking at the retreat tomorrow so please keep me and all those attending in your prayers. Please pray the Holy Spirit is with us and fills us all up this weekend so we can go back to our regular lives renewed in the Holy spirit! Also, please remember if you are local to try to stay out of Boston this weekend and to pray from afar about the Satanic convention that is happening this weekend. St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle. Be our protector against the wickedness and the snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray and do thou oh prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen! I look forward to meeting you hear again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!