Acts 9:10-19 Ananias prays for Saul

Acts 9:10-19 Ananias goes to Saul and prays for him. The conversation in prayer between Ananias and Jesus is rather revealing, because although Saul did not argue with Jesus, Ananias did. Paraphrasing - Ananias said, 'Are you sure, Lord?' And The Lord confirmed to Ananias what he was supposed to do, so Ananias went and did it.

          We have no insight into the physical mechanism of Saul's temporary blindness, or how scales fell from his eyes. The more likely explanation is that he was blinded by the unveiled vision of Jesus, which caused John to fall to the ground as if dead (Rev 1:17). When the metaphorical scales fell from his eyes, he could then understand the gospel, which he immediately began to proclaim (Acts 9:20 & 22). In truth he had always been blind to the truth of the gospel. When confronted by a direct revelation of spiritual reality, that spiritual blindness was manifest as physical blindness. Only when he had the humility to be prayed for by a lay person in the name of Jesus was his blindness lifted.

          How is it possible for those with great intellectual gifts to be used of God, without becoming so puffed up that they lose sight of Him? Humility does not come easily to those who see and understand things that others do not. Most people think themselves superior to others around them. But the key is what one does with the gifts God has endowed them with. Saul initially used his position and gifts to persecute the church. After he was converted, he could have easily used the greatness of his revelations as a basis to continue to be arrogant and lord it over others. However, we find that God forestalled this by giving Paul a thorn in the flesh. (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) The key that Paul revealed there is that God's strength is perfected in weakness. Once Paul intellectually grasped this principle, he was able to operate, to live with his pervasive weakness and his great revelation, because he realized that however smart he was, it amounted to nothing compared to what God wanted to reveal to and through him. So if God chose to use a believer named Ananias, who had no intellectual gifts to speak of, to pray for him and through him to free him from blindness, he would accept it from the hand of God. In this respect, it appears he responded more quickly than Moses, who argued with God about his call for quite a while, according to Exodus 3-4.