Ready

Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” Acts 9:19b-20

What kind of teaching can you get in “several days.” I know Paul had enthusiasm and passion, and he wanted to get right to work showing his newfound belief. But, could he really have been ready to dig in his heels and start preaching immediately, not only in Damascus but later in Jerusalem, confounding the Jews?

This whole idea just serves to remind me that God really is sovereign. Nothing takes Him by surprise. With Paul, I can imagine that when the scales fell off his physical eyes, they also fell off the eyes of all of his Pharisaic training in the law. Puzzles pieces started coming together in his mind as he fit Jesus into the Scripture he’d studied since childhood. God had prepared Paul in advance. Far in advance. And he was ready.

Often when a task is put before me, I argue that I’m not ready. I need to prepare. I need to learn. I need to get myself together. In all of my protests, I am denying that God knows what He’s doing. I am denying His sovereignty. I am proclaiming that He didn’t know what to expect and therefore wasn’t able to prepare me. I am disregarding basic foundational truths about God.

I am challenged to change that way of thinking. If I say I believe in God’s sovereignty, I must act like it! Jeremiah 18 talks about the potty molding the clay. If I am truly clay in the Potter’s hand, then I can trust Him to mold me for each task He sets me to do. And when He puts the task before me, I can trust that He in His sovereignty has fully equipped me.