2022_10_21 Insight Post- Emma Keeton
This week’s reading- Acts 24 & 25
Reading through Acts 22 and 23 this week, it is apparent that with God, there are no accidents. Having followed the life of Paul through Acts, we can now see how God chose Paul and his unique background to spread the message of Jesus. Now that Paul had been placed on trial in Jerusalem, Paul’s education, Jewish roots, and Roman citizenship would keep him alive and allow him to testify about Jesus in Rome. This is the last time in Acts that Paul would be a free man, but being in chains did not stop him from sharing the Good News.
Multiple circumstances had to line up for Paul to survive his arrest and subsequent trial. Paul’s citizenship as a Roman protected him from a scourging; a beating so gruesome it could cause death. Paul was educated and trained as a Pharisee under Gamaliel. This allowed him to speak with the Sadducees, the Jewish congress of which he used to be a part. God also orchestrated events so Paul’s nephew would overhear a plot to kill him, which resulted in half of the Jerusalem army protecting Paul on a journey to Caesarea! God was at work in Paul’s life even before his birth so that God’s will could be done.
Paul had been arrested and imprisoned before; other times, he was miraculously broken out of jail, but God was with Paul even in prison. The same principle is true for us; sometimes God delivers us out of a situation, and other times he works with us in a situation. The outcome is still the same; God’s will is done. For Paul, God was still powerfully at work regardless of where he was – although it would have looked to the outsider that Paul’s ministry days were over.
I take courage today knowing that whatever God allows to happen in my life, God has overseen the details, and none of it is an accident. The following prayer can be prayed daily to help us surrender to God and his will for us.
The Prayer of St. Francis de Sales
Be at peace.
Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life;
Rather look to them full of hope as they arise.
God, whose very own you are, will deliver you from out of them.
He has kept you hitherto, and He will lead you safely through all things;
And when you cannot stand it, God will bury you in his arms.
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;
The same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you then and every day.
He will either shield you from suffering, or give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination.
Amen
Emma Keeton
Prayer Team Lead