Acts 9:10–12

The essential work in Saul's soul was finished, and now the Lord uses a human servant. Two things about that servant are worth noting. First, he was just "a certain disciple," clearly of no special prominence. It was fitting that the only man to help Saul in any way was a very humble one. Saul had been very prominent as an opponent and was soon to be very prominent as a servant of the Lord. The disciple who helped him was undistinguished and retiring. Yet he was near enough to the Lord to receive His instructions and talk with Him. It is often like this in God's ways. Second, Ananias lived in Damascus. So he was one of those against whom Saul had been breathing out threats and murder. One of the very people Saul would have murdered was sent to call him "Brother Saul." Saul's evil was repaid with good in this overwhelming way.

Even Saul, apostle though he was, had to enter by the same lowly gate as anyone else. And so we have the story of Ananias, and the ways of the Lord. The Lord did not use some great apostle, nor even Philip, but a disciple at Damascus named Ananias, to whom He spoke in a vision.

And now the Lord spoke to that servant in a vision, addressing him by name, as He had personally addressed Saul. Yet how great the difference! To Saul it was One previously unknown to him who spoke. To Ananias it was One with whom that disciple was well acquainted. "Ananias," said the Lord. "Here I am, Lord," was the ready response.

But see the way the Lord meets him. There was in Damascus a man named Ananias. The Lord always has servants to do His work, blessed be His name! Ananias was free to serve the Lord. What a happy thing it is to be a servant of the Lord. He was ready to do anything the Lord wanted.

Notice, in chapter 9:10, how familiarly the Lord talks with His disciple. He opens His mind to him as to a friend. He tells him the circumstances that affect His own mind. Then Ananias answers in the same blessed confidence, "Lord, I have heard by many of this man," and so on. Of course Ananias had to obey the Lord. But this shows the unbounded confidence with which he could open his whole heart, because Jesus was so intimate with him.

So far from restraining prayer, we really need more openness with God. Scripture fully warrants this, and the case of good Ananias shows it (Acts 9:10-17). The Lord sends him to Saul of Tarsus to receive him after his conversion. But Ananias has a difficulty in his mind, and with beautiful simplicity and reverence he lays it before the Lord... Notice that the Lord does not reprove Ananias in the least. This incident, left on record, encourages us to tell the Lord about all our difficulties with reverent intimacy.

Saul was to be, beyond all others, a witness of Christ to the Gentiles. So God took special care to remove from every fair and honest person any suspicion that this had been arranged between Jews. Outwardly the vision of glory was unmistakable before many witnesses. Of the whole company, only Saul heard what passed between the Lord and His servant. But divine wisdom told Ananias what had happened, without Saul or anyone else on earth telling him.

The Lord's eye was on Saul. Nor was that all. He gave him the hope of shortly regaining his eyesight. He had already seen the man who would come in and restore it, and God revealed his name too, though until then this man was a complete stranger to him. And now the Lord spoke to that servant in a vision, addressing him by name, as He had personally addressed Saul. Yet how great the difference! The One who spoke to Saul was a stranger to him. But Ananias knew well the One who spoke to him.

Three days and nights he neither eats nor drinks. The deep moral work of God went on in that converted heart. Yet even he, apostle though he was, must enter by the same lowly gate as anyone else. And so we have the story of Ananias, and the ways of the Lord. The Lord did not use some great apostle, nor even Philip. He spoke in a vision to a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And he goes. The Lord also gave another vision to the apostle himself. In it Saul sees Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.

First, he was just "a certain disciple," clearly of no special prominence. It was fitting that the only man to help Saul in any way was a very humble one. Saul had been very prominent as an opponent and was soon to be very prominent as a servant of the Lord. His helper was a quiet, unknown disciple. Yet this man stayed close enough to the Lord to receive His instructions and talk with Him. It is often like this in God's ways. Second, Ananias lived in Damascus. So he was one of the people Saul had been breathing out threats and murder against.

Saul's main dealing was with the Lord Himself. But he must also learn that he cannot be independent of the people of God… The Lord adds that Saul has received a confirming vision. In it a man named Ananias comes to him and puts his hands on him, so that his sight may be recovered. The laying on of his hands had no supernatural power in itself. Instead, God chose to show His power alongside the fellowship that a believer expresses by laying on hands. So the Lord revealed His errand to Ananias, and gave Saul a matching vision, so that there could be no mistake.

In Acts 9:12, 17 the healing of the body was a picture of the spiritual. In Acts 13:3 it was the act of the saints. It expressed their fellowship in the work to which the Holy Spirit had called the apostle Paul and Barnabas.

So Ananias, a simple disciple, is all the more fitting a messenger to Saul. The Lord appears to him in a vision and tells him to go to the house of Judas and look for this man. Saul has already seen him in a vision, in answer to his prayer, laying his hands on him so that he may receive his sight. So the man who is to minister to others in such a large and blessed way must first learn his own need of ministry, and receive it.