The Blessing of Obedience

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Saturday, October 10, 2009

So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." - Acts 9:17

One can understand the reticence of Ananias, the follower of Christ whom God instructed to go and visit Saul within days of his conversion. Saul of Tarsus, after all, was the hunter of believers, the killer of Christians.

Ananias even questioned the idea: "But Lord, I've heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name" (Acts 9:13–14).

But God told him, "Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake" (verses 15–16).

There will be times when God will put a burden on your heart to approach a certain person, say a specific thing, or go to a particular place. You have a choice in the matter. You can either go or not go. When God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, he got up and went in the opposite direction. Ananias, however, did what God told him to do.

You can be a Jonah or you can be an Ananias. You can go where God tells you to go or you can refuse. You can go and receive the blessing or you can refuse to go and miss it.

You are where you are right now for such a time as this (see Esther 4:14). God may ask you to do something that you feel hesitant to do. But if He tells you to go, then you should go. And if you choose not to, God will get the job done anyway-but you will miss out on the blessing of obeying Him.