Beginnings (Acts 9:10-19)

We all tend to overestimate our abilities. For example, 93% of drivers think they’re above average drivers. But what’s that based on? How do we arrive at these conclusions? Similarly, do we overestimate our ability to know and understand how God works? Maybe we’ve defaulted to think God works in predictable ways. Or, maybe we think God doesn’t, can’t, and won’t work in other ways. In Acts 9, the Lord spoke to Ananias in a dream and tells him to visit and pray for Saul. Ananias is understandably resistant to the idea that he is supposed to go and visit someone who was authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord. Ananais chose to do what God wanted him to do, even though it went against what he knew to be true. God is always doing a new thing—moving in surprising and unexpected ways.