The Lord Chooses His Servants

Simple Statement of Principle: The Lord chooses who will be his servants, regardless of the opinions of man.

Reference: Acts 9:10-18

10 ¶ And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named ^aAnanias; and to him said the Lord in a ^bvision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much ^aevil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a ^achosen vessel unto me, to ^bbear my ^cname before the ^dGentiles, and ^ekings, and the children of Israel:

16 For I will shew him how great things he must ^asuffer for my name’s sake.

17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his ^ahands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that ^bappeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath ^csent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the ^dHoly Ghost.

18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received ^asight forthwith, and arose, and was ^bbaptized.

This story really impressed me, as when the Lord gave Ananias instructions to go unto Saul and give him his sight, Ananias was reluctant because of all the harm that Saul had recently caused. However, the Lord insisted that he knew what was best as He always does. The Lord knows each one of us much better than we know one another, and even better than we know ourselves. It is really not up to us to critique his instructions and commandments. When Ananias went, the Lord was right and Saul converted and was baptized. He ended up doing great good in the Kingdom of God. I think we run into trouble with this a lot in our daily lives. For example, we often judge people called to certain positions within the church because of what we think we know about them or because of our own personal feelings, whatever they may be. We often forget that it was the Lord that called these individuals and that because He knows what is best, it is not our place to judge.