Thursday, June 10, 2021

But They Said ...

"Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, "Ananias."  And he said, "Here I am, Lord."
So the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.
And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight."
Then Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem."
Acts 9:10-13 (NKJV)

Have you ever had a disagreement with someone about what to do?  Sometimes when you talk to a person about what needs to be done, they reply, "But they said ...", referring to what someone else who has a different idea or opinion about the thing has said.  In this kind of a situation, nothing is going to get done until what you said is acted on by the other person, instead of them just listening to what "they" said about it.

When Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, met Jesus on the road to Damascus, it brought a dramatic change in Paul's life.  Paul was instructed to go into Damascus and that then he would be told what to do.  Meanwhile, in Damascus, God spoke in a vision to a disciple named Ananias to go and pray for Paul.  What is fascinating to me is that even though Ananias was hearing from God, Ananias first response to God was about what other people had said about Paul.

Have you ever seen something in God's Word, or the Holy Spirit led you to do something, but rather than just obey, you did what Ananias did and you first think and talk to God about something that someone else has said about it?  Like Ananias, we may hesitate in following God's direction for some reason, but we need to keep God's Word as a higher authority than what anyone else has said.  God's Word and the Holy Spirit give us the direction we need in life and we need to follow that, no matter what anyone else might say.

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