Acts 9:5-9 - Who are you Lord?

9:5

Paul recognised the voice as being heavenly in some sense, calling Him Lord, but Paul did not recognise Him. In all his zeal Paul had not actually been serving God. More to the point, he did not know God. Part of the gospel is that we will know God and recognise Him. Jesus said His sheep know Him and recognise His voice (John 10:14). A sign of someone not knowing God is that they are serving a cause, rather than serving a person. What Paul was actually doing was persecuting Jesus, persecuting the Lord. We should all watch ourselves to ensure that we do not move from serving the Lord to serving a cause.

9:6,7

Paul is then told what to do. Note that in this there is no part given to any choice on Paul’s part. Jesus chooses to appear to him, and then Jesus tells him what to do. Once in the city he would be told what to do.

The men who were with Paul were speechless. They had heard the voice, so knew what had been said to Paul, but they had seen no one. So they would know that someone or something was calling into question the whole of Paul’s life.

9:8,9

Saul got up, but was now blind. Why did God do this to him? Was it symbolic of Paul needing to be guided by the Spirit, instead of by his own intellect? This is not to say that we should not use our brains, but we can become so full of ourselves and our supposed understanding, that we start to rely on this instead of relying on the Lord. As it says in Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”. We are meant to be a people who are led by the Spirit. Let me say it again, this does not mean we don’t use our mind, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. As soon as our own wisdom becomes the foundation then we are in big trouble. So Saul was led to Damascus. He remained blind for three days and did not eat or drink anything.