What Would You Have Me Do? | Acts 9:5-6

Have you ever been completely certain you were right about something and then discovered you were not just slightly wrong but completely wrong?

Not a minor miscalculation. A full reversal. The kind of moment where everything you built your confidence on suddenly looks completely different and you have to decide what to do with that.

Most of us have experienced a version of that in smaller ways. A relationship we misjudged. A decision we were sure about that turned out to be a mistake. A season where we had to sit with the uncomfortable realization that the story we'd been telling ourselves wasn't accurate.

Saul experienced it on a road to Damascus in the most dramatic possible way.

And the question he asks in that moment is one of the most important questions in the entire New Testament.

The Man Who Was Sure He Was Right

Saul is not a villain who knows he's doing wrong and doesn't care. He is genuinely convinced that persecuting the followers of Jesus is the right and righteous thing to do. He is educated, devout, passionate about God, and completely certain that what he is doing serves God's purposes.

He is wrong in a way that is costing people their lives.

And then, on the road to Damascus, a light from heaven flashes around him and he falls to the ground. And a voice says:

"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Acts 9:4 (NIV)

Notice the word me. Not why do you persecute my followers. Not why do you persecute the church. Me. What is being done to the people who follow Jesus is being felt personally by Jesus Himself.

Saul asks the only question that makes sense in that moment:

"Who are you, Lord?" Acts 9:5 (NIV)

And the answer dismantles everything he thought he knew:

"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."

Then comes the direction that defines the rest of Saul's life:

"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." Acts 9:6 (NIV)

Not the full plan. Not a five year vision. Just the next step. Get up. Go into the city. Wait.

The Man Who Lost Everything and Found the Right Question

Someone once told me about the moment his life fell apart. He had spent years building everything around control. His career, his plans, his identity, his sense of who he was and where he was going. All of it carefully constructed and carefully managed.

And then overnight it was gone.

He said the hardest moment wasn't losing everything. The hardest moment was the silence afterward. Sitting in it with nothing left to manage or control or build toward. And in that silence asking a question he had never genuinely asked before:

God, what do You want me to do now?

Not what do I want. Not what makes logical sense from where I'm standing. What do You want.

He said that question changed the entire direction of his life.

That is the question Saul is forced into on that road. Everything he was certain about gets taken away in a moment of blinding light and he has nothing left but:

What would You have me do?

And that question, asked honestly with nothing held back, is where transformation begins.

Three Days of Darkness and Silence

Saul gets up from the ground blind. His traveling companions lead him by the hand into Damascus. And for three days he sits in darkness without eating or drinking.

No sight. No food. No answers. Just the weight of everything he now knows about himself and everything he thought he knew that has just been completely overturned.

Three days of silence has a way of doing what nothing else can. It strips away every defense and every distraction and leaves you alone with the truth about who you actually are and what you actually need.

And then God sends someone.

The Word That Changed Everything

Ananias is a follower of Jesus in Damascus. And God tells him to go find Saul. Ananias pushes back immediately and honestly:

Lord, I've heard about this man. He's the reason people are suffering. He came here with authority to arrest everyone who calls on your name.

And God says go anyway.

So Ananias goes. He finds Saul. And the first word he says to the man who has been hunting down and imprisoning followers of Jesus is one of the most powerful words in the book of Acts:

Brother.

Not enemy. Not persecutor. Not the man who approved of Stephen's death.

Brother.

Grace doesn't arrive with a list of everything Saul has done wrong. It doesn't arrive with conditions or probation or a period of proving himself. It walks through the door and calls him brother before he has done a single thing to deserve it.

That is what grace actually looks like when it's moving.

The Persecutor Who Became the Preacher

What happens to Saul after Damascus is one of the most remarkable transformations in human history.

The man who held the coats of the people stoning Stephen becomes the man who plants churches across the known world. The man who dragged followers of Jesus from their homes and threw them in prison becomes the man who writes from prison about joy and peace and contentment. The man who was completely certain he was right about Jesus becomes the man who gives everything he has to make sure the world knows who Jesus actually is.

This is not self-improvement. This is not a man who decided to do better and worked hard at it. This is transformation through an encounter with the risen Christ that changed the entire direction of his life from the inside out.

And here is the truth that makes Saul's story personal for everyone reading it:

If God can take the man who was actively working against Him and turn him into the greatest missionary the church has ever seen, then no situation is too far gone, no person is too broken, no past is too complicated for that same transformation to be available.

If He can change Saul, He can change anyone.

Including the situation you think is beyond turning around.

Including you.

The Most Important Prayer You Could Pray Today

Before you close this out, consider what it would look like to pray the question Saul asked on that road with the same honesty and the same surrender.

Not what do I want from this situation.

Not what makes sense to me from where I'm standing.

Not what fits into the plan I've already made.

Lord, what would You have me do?

And then do the next thing He shows you. Not the full plan. Just the next step. The same way Saul was told simply to get up, go into the city, and wait.

Because the same God who guided Stephen in suffering, Philip in obedience, and Saul in transformation is guiding you right now.

You just have to be willing to ask the question and trust the answer even when it only comes one step at a time. 🙏

Thanks for reading along with Gospel First. We are at week 15 of our 26 week study and there is so much more still ahead. If today's lesson spoke to a moment where everything shifted and you had to decide what to do with that, share it with someone who needs to hear that no past is too complicated for God to work with. God bless.