From fear to faith: the Ananias challenge for a new year

FIRST WORDS with Mark Pugh

“But Lord,” Ananias protested, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem.”

Reading Acts 9, we can almost hear the incredulity in Ananias’s voice. God had just asked him to visit Saul ‒ the notorious persecutor, the man whose very name struck fear into believers’ hearts. Ananias’s objection seems entirely reasonable. He had heard the reports. He knew the danger. Surely God had made a mistake or didn’t fully understand the situation.

Yet God’s response is telling: “Go! This man is my chosen instrument.”

God wasn’t asking Ananias to evaluate Saul based on past behaviour or current reputation. He was inviting him into a divine plan already in motion, one that would transform both men and ultimately reshape the entire Christian movement.

As we enter 2026, how many of us are living like Ananias before his change of heart ‒ certain we know what God can and cannot do, filtering divine possibilities through our limited understanding? We approach the new year with our strategic plans, our reasonable expectations and our carefully managed risks.

Then God whispers something unexpected, and we respond with our own version of “But Lord…”

“But Lord, that person seems too far gone.” “But Lord, our church is too small.” “But Lord, I’m too old, too young, too inexperienced.” “But Lord, we’ve never done it that way before.”

When Ananias finally obeyed, he discovered that God had indeed gone before him. Saul was already praying, already prepared by a divine encounter, already waiting. What seemed impossible to Ananias was already accomplished in God’s providence.

Perhaps 2026 is the year we stop limiting God with our “But Lord” objections. Perhaps this is the year we choose faith over fear, divine possibility over human probability.

Like Ananias, we may discover that when we step into God’s unexpected plans, He has already prepared the way. Don’t let your reasonable objections prevent you from experiencing unreasonable grace. The God of surprises is still at work. Are you ready to say yes?

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.