I love it when one of my students makes a statement that makes me realize they really are listening and thinking about what God’s Word teaches. Such a revelation occurred last Sunday in my Bible class.

We are studying the book of Acts, taking it basically chapter by chapter. Last week’s lesson was on the conversion of Saul. I love teaching this story, but I gained a new perspective from it from one of my students. I think sometimes we miss important treasures when we teach children. We often forget that they are capable of learning so much more than we expect from them.

The story is familiar to most of us. What we gain from it is different for someone who does not truly study the entire account from Acts 9. Saul, traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus, was on a mission to persecute those people of The Way. That is what he called those who had proclaimed themselves to be disciples of Jesus Christ. He was capturing both men and women, beating them, and throwing them in prison. He had obtained the proper papers from the chief priest, and he was accompanied by a group of men, probably soldiers. As he traveled, a bright light could be seen in the heaven, and he fell to the ground. A voice called out to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4 ESV). Saul’s response was to ask the voice to identify Himself. The voice responded that He was the one Saul was persecuting. Here is where the difference is. Many believe that Saul was saved right here, on this road, without further action.

If we read on in the text, we see that the voice tells Saul to go into Damascus, and there he will learn what he needs to do. There is more than hearing a voice and falling to the ground. In addition to this shocking experience, Saul is blinded, unable to see anything and must be led to Damascus by the men accompanying him.

Here is where the revelation occurred in my class. One of my students quickly injected into the lesson, “He walked by faith, not by sight.” That is exactly what he did. He depended on others to get him where he needed to go. He obviously accepted the instructions he had been given. That is exactly what the Lord expects from us, and that is why Saul, later known as Paul, told the Corinthians, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (Second Corinthians 5:7).

Saul’s faith had to be completed by his obedience to the instructions he received from Ananias in Damascus. He spent three days in prayer, He related this event twice before the authorities, defending his own faith in Jesus Christ. He told them how Ananias told him to “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16).

Paul passes along his experience with walking by faith when he writes his letter to the Romans. In chapter 8 verses 24 and 25, he tells them the things we see are temporal. It is the things we do not see, the spiritual things, that count.

The writer of Hebrews says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith substantiates all of those things we read about in God’s Word, but do not fully understand. Eternal life depends on our faith.

Saul could not know what was ahead of him, but he traveled through life in faith. He was first a sinner, a persecutor of the Lord’s disciples, a religious man on the wrong track. Through faith and obedience to a greater authority than the Roman government, the old man Saul became a new creature. He was a Pharisee, a Roman citizen, a man with authority, and a persecutor God’s people, but he became a child of God. He preached in the synagogues, traveled the world, suffered many persecutions and trials, but remained faithful until death.

I’m so glad my precious student gave us more to think about than just the conversion. He certainly made me take a second look at Paul’s walking by faith.

Sandra Oliver