Appointed to Know His Will

Paul uses some interesting verbiage in Acts 22.14. He quotes Ananias, who is the first Christian to show up after Paul's encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus, as saying: "The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will," or as the KJV puts it: "Hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his will."

What is going on here? What did Ananias mean? We know for sure that it was God who acted and not Paul, God appointed; God chose; God was the active one here. While dramatic, Paul's conversion does not appear to be any different from the way God draws all others to himself. He acts first; He draws; He chooses. Can I fully explain this? Um...no.

I take "to know his will" as a euphemism for drawing Paul to faith in Christ. That is surely the outcome that we see from this encounter.

The question that one must ask oneself is: "What am I to do with Christ?" Am I to follow him by faith, as both Ananias and Paul did? Am I to give my life to him? Am I to respond to the work that the Holy Spirit is doing in my own heart right now?