Keeping the Faith in Big Decisions
One of the hardest things in the life of our faith is making big decisions. How do we keep the faith when the impact of our decision could be consequential? My friend and fellow writer, Sharla Hallett wrote the following guest post for Something Like Scales as an alternative takeaway of Paul’s Acts 9 “something like scales fell from his eyes” story. Here’s Sharla.
Keeping the Faith in Big Decisions
The Biblical examples of people having to make hard, but impactful decisions of obedience are aplenty. God asks his servant to do something that does not make sense to him or her, perhaps even putting them in harm’s way. They must decide whether they will trust and follow God or do what makes sense to them in the moment.
For example, Noah had to decide if he really heard from God to build an Ark when he had never seen rain. Esther had to decide if she trusted God enough to approach a murderous king in order to save her people. Though he had spent time trying to talk God out of it, Moses had to finally choose to believe that he indeed was the right man for the job to lead the Israelites out of slavery.
Ananias was another character in the Bible who had to decide whether or not to obey God. Though not as immediately well known in the Bible as Noah and Esther, Ananias’s decision of obedience had a great effect on the New Testament and Christianity. We find his story in Acts 9, interwoven with Saul’s story, who later becomes Paul.
After Jesus had been to the earth, died on the cross, and ascended to heaven, the disciples begin preaching about all they have witnessed. They spread the message of the gospel far and wide. But just as some priests and Pharisees had opposed Jesus, they also opposed his disciples. This Good News challenged everything they believed and threatened their way of life. So just as Jesus had been persecuted, so too were the disciples.
One such man who participated in persecuting Christians was Paul, then known as Saul. Saul was a well-educated man and, in his earthly wisdom, believed that what he was doing was right. He was helping rid the world of these people who believed in Jesus and threatened the integrity of the Jewish Law–the one that had been taught, handed down, and so carefully preserved by the Jews.
While God’s law is important, Jesus had come to set us free from the law and put us into right relationship with God. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we will never have to be separated from God again. Saul, with all his education, could not see this. Instead, he felt that these Christians had to be stopped. As such, he led the charge in arresting them and putting them in prison where they would be tortured and killed for their faith.
It was while Saul was on his way to Damascus with permission from Jerusalem’s high priest to go and arrest the Christians there that God entered into his story. At this point, Saul’s heart was filled with rage and his mind with murder. You would think God would look on such a heart and want to smite him from the earth.
Instead, God saw a heart he could use. On Saul’s way to Damascus, he had a supernatural encounter with God. A brilliant light flashed. Saul was blinded, and then he heard a booming voice say “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”…Saul replied, “Who are you, Lord?” “I am Jesus, the Victorious, the one you are persecuting” (Acts 9:4-7 TPT).
At this point, Saul is physically blind. God traded his spiritual blindness for physical blindness. Yet his instructions are to go to Damascus where he will be told what to do next. Saul had to trust the men with him to lead him to the correct place. He also had to trust God.
Here is where Ananias enters the story. God speaks to Ananias in a vision and tells him about Saul. He tells Ananias that he wants him to go and pray for Saul so that the Lord can restore his vision.
You have to wonder, if God had done all of this so far on his own, why did he feel he needed to include Ananias? There are a couple of reasons. One, God always enjoys partnering with us. He can accomplish anything on this earth on his own. He is God. But he chooses to partner with us to bring about his purposes. It is our privilege to partner with him. Second, I think God wanted a witness. For Saul to go out and tell this story on his own would be something, but to have Ananias be a witness to what had happened gave it credibility.
So Ananias had a decision to make. Would he trust God and go and pray for a man who was on his way to the city to possibly arrest him and his friends? Or would he ignore God and/or question whether this could be from him? After all, this man, Saul, was getting what he deserved.
“Two roads diverged in a wood…” -poem by Robert Frost
Can you imagine how different the New Testament would be if Ananias had not made a decision to obey God? We know that Ananias questions God before he goes, but after God’s reassurance, he indeed does go. We don’t know the thoughts he had on the way. Put yourself in his place. He could have wavered between great faith and thinking this is the stupidest thing I have ever done. I am going to show my faith and pray for a man who is literally imprisoning and killing people like me.
Nevertheless, Ananias arrives at where Saul is staying, goes inside, and lays hands on him. He tells Saul that God has sent him–the same God that appeared to Saul three days prior on the road. God wants to restore his sight and fill him with the Holy Spirit.
The Bible then tells us, “Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.” (v.18 NKJV) The scales falling from Saul’s eyes restored his physical sight, but they are also symbolic of the spiritual blindness he was experiencing before his encounter on the road. The Lord had to remove the scales from his heart so that Saul could see clearly.
The story does not end there. Saul was so profoundly changed that he began teaching and preaching the gospel. However, the Jewish priests were now mad at him, and the Christians did not trust him. God had to take him through a process of learning, where his name was changed as well as his heart and mind. Because of his radical conversion, the church prospered and much of the New Testament was written by Paul. He by no means led an easy life, but he led a life for God.
Ananias’s story is not really spoken of after this encounter with Saul. However, Ananias’s decision to obey God that day is profoundly significant. Saul would have been considered an enemy. The circumstance required Ananias to be determined to trust the Lord and act in faith regardless of what he knew about Saul. His scales of fear and preconceived notions also needed to fall.
Ananias had no idea of the future impact of his obedience that day, but he chose to obey God anyway.
Are there places in your heart where the scales need to fall–where you need to see a circumstance, a person, or a headline as God sees it?
When we see through God’s lens rather than our own, we are able to make the decision to trust him even when what he is asking us to do would not make sense in our limited sight. Following God requires faith, but it is also rewarding and generates eternal impact.
In the places where you feel you have limited faith, ask God for grace to have more faith. God is always for you not against you. He loves you more than you can understand and delights in partnering with you to bring heaven to earth.
Sharla Hallett is a wife, mother, Bible teacher, and devotional writer. When her life took an unexpected path, it became a testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness. You can find out more about Sharla and her story, and read her work at sharlahallett.com.
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