Service Through Vision

And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight. Acts 9: 12.

Vision is a word that is very commonly and loosely used in a variety of ways, pertaining to quite different contexts. In this specific setting, the Lord has used vision as the means by which He communicates on earth, with one of His human servants. You and I have many options of communicating with those near and far. At one time, phones were used to call persons who were out of your reach, but not today. I am within reach, in a room next door, not two or three rooms away, but in the next room, and the house phone rings. I pick up the receiver and it is our granddaughter, a strong young person, able to get up and walk a few steps to where I am, using the phone to communicate with me. Yes, I know that you know about this as well.

But here is Jesus, who is always near, choosing to use a method of communication, for both persons with whom He wishes to connect. Here is what continues to fascinate me. Every time I think about how our Lord is able to communicate with both the one to be served and the one to serve, I am left in awe. The truth is that vision is nothing spectacular for God to use on people. Vision is one of His known ways of talking to humans.

What is gripping me at the moment, is not the vision part, but that our Lord uses the same method for both the receiver of His gift and the giver of the gift. I can’t explain what it is that really holds me here, but this I do know, God comes to the weak and the strong, the big and the small, the well and the sick, the servant and the served, in the same way. 

Jesus tells Ananias that He has visited Saul of Tarsus as well. He tells His servant that He has spoken to Saul in a vision and has told him about Ananias. Now, in a vision, He is telling Ananias about Saul.

Do I trust the Lord to do for others what He has done for me?  If He can bring a person to me, one to whom I would rather not go, an enemy to stay clear of, then is He not able to do the opposite? Is the Lord not able to go to the person I still view as the enemy and bring my name to that person, as the Lord’s servant who is coming to help that one? This is not farfetched, nor is uncommon and unusual for our Lord and Master.  

Lord, I ask for a discerning mind that is able to hear, see and understand Your Authority to do as You desire. Lord, fulfill Your own will in me, please. Amen!