Charles Spurgeon Commentary Acts 9:10-11

"Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said unto him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I [am here], Lord. And the Lord [said] unto him, Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus: for behold, he prayeth;" — Acts 9:10-11 (ASV)

And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

He had been a praying man for most of his life, for he was a devout Jew and according to his light he had lived up to his knowledge. But now he was praying in the Christian sense of the term, drawing near to God through the very Christ whom he had in his ignorance and unbelief persecuted. How many prayers of unregenerate men, who do not know Christ, and are not constrained by his love, go for nothing! When they first from the heart confess their sin, and cry to God for mercy, then they begin really to pray.

And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

God knows where every sinner is, the street he lies in, the number of the house, and the name of the owner of the house, so that he can find him when he pleases, or send one of his servants to him. You remember what John Bunyan said to the Quaker who came to see him in prison. The Quaker said to him, "Friend John, I am glad I have found you at last, for the Lord sent me to you, and I have been through half the prisons in England trying to find you."

"No, no," said Bunyan, "do not tell me that. The Lord did not send you to me, for he knows I have been here all these years. If he had sent you, you would have come straight to the prison door."

When the Lord calls a man to go on an errand for him, he puts his finger on the right spot, and says, "Go there."