Wednesday 17th March 2021
Today (Wednesday) in our Lent booklets we read in Acts chapter.8 about Philip sharing God’s story, and tomorrow our lent reading is Acts chapter 10 where Peter shares God’s Story, in-between those two events we can read about how three other people share God’s story through sharing their own story. Read Acts 9: 10-30
So here we have three people who heard God speak to them – Ananias, Saul (who is better known as Paul) and Barnabas. These three people not only recognise that God is speaking to them, they were also willing to trust God and do what God asked them to do.
We know very little about Ananias and so we can assume that apart from this one occasion, the rest of his life was very much like ours – ordinary. We aren’t given any details as to how Ananias became convinced that God had called him to go and pray with someone (Saul/Paul) who all the Christians are afraid of!
Assuming that Ananias’ faith wasn’t much different to ours, then he would have been overwhelmed by what he thought God was asking him to do and if his faith was anything like ours, he would also not even be sure that he’s heard God correctly. What Ananias could have done, is breakdown what he thought God was saying to him into a series of actions, and by doing this he could make sure that this is really what God wants him to do.
First, he could go to Straight Street (that’s easy enough) and make discreet enquiries to find out if Saul of Tarsus is staying there. If he is, then that’s the first confirmation that God has spoken to him, then he can find out if Paul is now blind, and when he discovers that he is, that is another confirmation that God is calling him to this task, and so when he finally enters into Saul/Paul’s room he can be sure that this is what God has asked him to do.
I don’t know if that is really what happened, but I know that’s how I often deal with situations where I think God is prompting me to do something which I will find difficult to do. I work out what the first step is, and as I take that first step, see if I can recognise God being with me as I take it. I’m trying to avoid the word ‘test’ because I don’t want to encourage you to be saying ‘God if you are really asking me to do this, I want you to give me this sign…’ but, I do believe we can pray asking God to confirm his message to us and like Ananias we can usually also take small steps towards fulfilling what we think God is asking us to do, looking for confirmation as we take each step.
That event concludes an event in Paul’s life which started with his ‘Damascus Road’ experience (Acts.9: 1-9). This became an important part of his story, with Paul taking any and every opportunity to share it with other people. He delighted in telling anyone who would listen, how God’s story had transformed his own story, but telling his story that ‘Jesus is the Son of God’(v.20) also brought Paul lots of trouble, but he never wavered from telling how God’s story had changed his own story.
It is hard for us to imagine the mixed emotions going on in the lives of the Christians in Jerusalem as they heard that the man who had persecuted them was returning, claiming that Jesus is his Lord. One of those Christians, a man named Joseph befriended Paul. Everyone in Jerusalem knew Joseph by the nickname Barnabas, a nickname which meant “One who encourages others” and this is what we see Joseph doing. We aren’t told specifically how God prompts Barnabas to go and befriend Paul, but we are told that Barnabas has heard about how God Story had transformed Paul’s own story, and how since then Paul hasn’t stopped telling people that Jesus is the Son of God and his Lord.
Barnabas shows that he trusts in God’s wisdom, trusts that God knows best, even when trusting God makes his own life more difficult. It is likely that some of Barnabas’ friends would distance themselves from him as they see him becoming friends with Paul, but Barnabas stuck with Paul, helping him to feel that he belonged, confirming that Paul was part of God’s family.
And so, to summarise the challenges we receive through these three men:
Ananias shows us to trust God and follow him step by step
Saul/Paul shows us to trust God and then tell our story of trusting God
Barnabas shows us that when we trust God it affects our actions
Use these familiar words to lead you into a time of thanking God for how his story has made a difference to you own story.
To God be the glory! Great things He hath done; so loved He the world that He gave us His Son;
who yielded His life an atonement for sin, and opened the life gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! let the people rejoice:
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son and give Him the glory, great things He hath done!
(Fanny J Crosby 1820-1915)