Will.

"The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth." -- (Ananias to Paul, following his conversion on the Damascus Road).

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First. Wow. What a thing to be told.

The God of our fathers has chosen you to:

1. know His will. 2. see the Righteous One. 3. hear words from His mouth.

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BOOM.

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That's big news.

And to receive it only a day after meeting Jesus Himself on the road?

Big stuff. Scary stuff. Awesome stuff. Momentous Stuff.

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The power of what was promised to Paul struck me so much that I wanted to understand the fullness of it, so I looked up some of the words in their original Hebrew, and I found this:

The word used for will in the passage is "thelema," meaning will, desire, choice, determination. The description goes on to explain the word more fully with the following:

"Thelema means, then, will, not to be conceived as demand, but as an expression or inclination of pleasure; a want or desire which pleases and creates joy. When it denotes God's will, it signifies His gracious disposition toward something. Used to designate what God Himself does of His own good pleasure."

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Ummm. Whoa.

Just look at those words.

Desire. Joy. Gracious disposition. His own good Pleasure.

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So, then, the passage could be read like this:

The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His desire.

The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His Joy.

The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His gracious disposition.

The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His own good pleasure.

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Wow. God delights in me on my journey.

Wow. He walks with me because he enjoys it.

Wow. He stays near because it brings Him joy.

Wow. His will for me is His own good pleasure for me.

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Whoa.

whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.

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Thanks be to God for taking pleasure in our journeys.

I'm so grateful He allows me to be part of the adventure, a part of the joy.