Jesus timely encouraged Paul in prison,
giving him assurance he would go to Rome to testify. Jesus is trustworthy and
Paul didn’t have anything to worry about, but did that mean he sat back and did
nothing?
Paul
was in prison, so there wasn’t much he could do besides pray. Although he was
already in prison, the Jews’ continued plots to kill him. God had Paul’s nephew
find out about the plots, though, and he told Paul.
Paul
could have told his nephew “Just trust God. Don’t worry about it!” since Jesus
told Paul he would testify in Rome. However, Paul wisely (and prayerfully, I’m
sure) did what he could do by sending his nephew to the commander.
Acts 23:17-22 17 Then Paul
called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander;
he has something to tell him.” 18 So he took him
to the commander.
The centurion said, “Paul, the
prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because
he has something to tell you.”
19 The
commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, “What is it
you want to tell me?”
20 He said:
“Some Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the
Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information
about him. 21 Don’t give in to them, because more than
forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not
to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting
for your consent to their request.”
22 The commander dismissed
the young man with this warning: “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported this
to me.”
Paul
had active faith. He also had the Holy Spirit and godly wisdom.
With
the COVID-19 pandemic, we can fully trust God as Sovereign and in control of
everything. That doesn’t mean we sit back and do nothing. We are to have active
faith. We can pray for wisdom to listen to the Holy Spirit’s direction on how
to use the information available in a way that glorifies God and accomplishes
His will. How will you and I do that today?
Alice
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