Acts 9:17-22 English Standard Version

17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened.

Saul Proclaims Jesus in Synagogues

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

The first thing that Saul did after his eyes were enlightened was to confound expectations by proclaiming Christ rather than jailing Christians as he had set out to do. He sounded different and he acted differently.

What did we expect when we first believed? In many ways the first expectations that had to be confounded were our own expectations.

A brother in the Lord came to me after my conversion and said, “I have prayed and prayed that the Lord should remove this sin from me and He has not. What am I to do?” My answer came to him from a place that was not in my mind since I was a new creation myself.

“Your body is His temple. Do not tell Him how to clean His house.”

My friend had an expectation that was not realized and that led to doubt and fear. He began doubting his own conversion. Unrealized expectations lead to disappointment. Placing our faith in Christ begins with the blissful ignorance of faith. Don’t expect how we will change. In that way we will not be disappointed.

So how does the Lord clean His house?