You need help.

Last week we looked at how we need to be secure in our God- identity. Sometimes there are things in life that stop us from seeing clearly and we need God to reveal things to us. But what we need to understand is God loves to use people. After Saul had his encounter with God and fell off his donkey, a few things happened. 

Acts 9:8-9 says, “Saul stood to his feet, and even though his eyes were open he could see nothing—he was blind. So the men had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus. For three days he didn’t eat or drink and couldn’t see a thing.”

Saul was well known for going around killing Christians. Now he was blind and he needed help from the same Christians he was persecuting to help him see again. God could have opened Saul’s eyes the same way he closed them, supernaturally and without human intervention. But God chose to let Saul to be vulnerable and I can imagine this was as scary for Paul and a bit uncomfortable for Saul. But God is more concerned in your maturity as a Christian than He is about your comfort. So yes, He will occasionally do things that make you uncomfortable where you have no choice but to trust Him and have faith. That’s the journey Saul and Ananias found themselves in.

Acts 9:10-18 says, “Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord!” he replied. The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”

“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.” But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.”

How many of us are walking around blind, because either we are too proud to allow someone to lead us or we won’t go to the church where God has told us to go or we won’t allow ourselves to be vulnerable and submit to those who have gone ahead of us in life, like our pastors?

We can have an encounter with God and still be blind. We can have an amazing experience with God and still be Saul and going nowhere. Saul couldn’t reach his full potential in God until he was willing to do things God’s way.

Sometimes the reason why we can’t see the hair sticking up or the eye boogers we are walking around with, is that even though we look in the mirror of God’s word, there are scales on our eyes stopping us from seeing. Even though we have had the encounter with God, we are still Saul. We are still the same person we were 5 years ago, maybe not in all areas of life but definitely in some. 

We need others to help us on our God journey. We also need to learn to trust God with the process of helping us go from Saul to Paul. When we are blind we can’t see where we are going but God can. God is so gracious that He puts others around us who can see so like Saul’s friends, they can help us get to Ananias. Once we reach Ananias, he may not be what we expected. He may not be what we want, but he is what we need to get us seeing again. 

Have you surrounded yourself with good people who can help get you to where God needs you to be? It matters who we surround ourselves with. Without the right people to take us to where God needs us to be, we spend life walking around blind and mad at God when really, we picked the wrong kind of people to surround ourselves with. Ultimately we are responsible for who we have in our lives and what we entertain in our lives. 

We’ll pick this up next week!

Love and blessings, 

Melissa Tsingano.