Acts 21
“Let the will of the Lord be done.” Such was the prayer of Paul’s friends after
testimony upon testimony that Paul would be arrested, bound, and delivered to
the Gentiles. However it did not come
with joy or without resistance.
Paul had been warned through by the Holy
Spirit that trouble awaited him in Jerusalem.
The tension rose as he got closer.
Yet he was knew that he must go.
It almost seems that Paul does this in defiance of God’s warning. Clearly, though, was God’s plan for Paul to
go to Jerusalem and to suffer all these things for the sake of having the
opportunity to share the Gospel, and the warnings along the way was the Spirit
testing Paul and preparing him for what was to come. Recall God’s word to Ananias at Paul’s
conversion, “He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the
Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:16)
The issue of suffering is one that comes
up often as a stumbling block for Christians.
We often ask, “How can God allow such terrible things to happen to
people if He loves them?” Yet it is
clear from God’s Word that He is good and he works all things to the good of
those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
We could make comparisons saying that
faith is like steel that must be tempered by the extreme heat of the fire and
plunged into the cooling waters of baptism.
We could talk about the silversmith who burns off the dross to purify
the silver and point out that God uses the suffering of life to purge our
behaviors. We could remember that God is
the potter and we the clay and note that it is His prerogative to choose the
use of these vessels we call our bodies.
All of these are true.
Better than these, though, we can look at
the Cross. Jesus suffered there more
than anyone. Yet look what God did. Can He not use our suffering likewise? Can He not use our pain to His glory?
Lord, I do not understand so much of the
suffering that takes place in the world.
Yet I pray, please use it to Your glory; especially the suffering in my
life. Amen.
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