In a recent study of the book of Acts, I was struck by just how much Paul went through for the sake of the gospel. All too often, I can get this zoomed out sort of look at it, where I’ve removed the hard events from each other and look at them in isolation. But when you read Acts straight through, there’s no ignoring it. Paul was having a time of it.
Preaching, beaten, jailed, preaching, beaten, jailed, it seems to go on and on until Paul is held in jail with people screaming for his execution and he uses his Roman citizenship to appeal to Caesar. His appeal saves his life, but traps him in prison, awaiting transport to complete the appeal. This sets of a whole new train of troubles for Paul that will eventually lead to his death.
Now, it’s easy to look at how Paul’s life was going at this point and think “Poor guy! He can’t catch a break to save his life! What a miserable time he’s having!” And you would be absolutely right if Paul’s top priority was freedom. But that was not Paul’s goal. Not even a little bit. Paul was giving everything he had to preaching the gospel and as a result he was exactly where he needed to be.
In Paul’s day, travel was neither a simple nor straightforward thing. There were no short journeys, and there were very few safe ones in the region he was in. Furthermore, speaking access was not a given either. Societally, people lived very separately and with tensions at an all time high between groups like the Jews and the Romans, there was very little access or understanding between the two.
Why does this matter? Because Paul’s arrests, arraignments, and transportations overcame travel and audience problems in a way no other method of that day could have.
Without the benefit of being transported under guard (yes, benefit) Paul would have been vulnerable to the same dangers that most common people of that day were exposed to. Robbers, pirates, highwaymen, mobs, you name it. But Paul was under the guard of the Romans. He may have been a prisoner in their eyes, but their mere presence guarded Paul from physical dangers to the point of them being less like guards and more bodyguards. They kept Paul alive, and every second longer that he lived he spread the gospel.
And then there’s the matter of his audience.
Paul’s whole goal of sharing the gospel was suddenly on a stage. Where other believers were forced to go to ground, Paul had a podium.
Where else but in a courtroom could Paul have gathered an audience of two deeply opposed sides to hear the gospel? Where else could he have had such unimpeded access to preach the gospel without repercussion? What were they going to do? Arrest him extra?
So, to those of us concerned with physical well being, Paul was handed one bad time of suffering after another. But looking at this from a kingdom perspective, Paul dedicated his life to spreading the gospel and God met him in that by providing every possible means outside of Paul’s own capability to do exactly that. Paul wasn’t suffering. He was succeeding.
No wonder he wrote we should consider suffering a joy.
Paul knew first hand what we do often miss ourselves. That even the things that hurt and seemed to derail him could further God’s kingdom. God is always working.
Now, do I mean that God inflicts pain on us just to make his message spread further? No. God loves us. He wants good things for us. He’s not using us for his own gain no matter how badly it hurts us. What I am saying is that there’s no situation so dark and so miserable that God can’t be glorified in it. Nothing can knock God off course because he is the one creating the course and everything around it.
So what does that mean for us? It means that we can trust God is at work even when our situations seem most dire and out of control. We can trust that the gospel is at work even when we’re beyond our own capability. We can hold fast to the knowledge that no matter how bad things hurt here or leave us feeling broken and doomed, there is hope beyond this world.
The God who guided Paul to extraordinary purpose is the God who is guiding us. Take courage, Christian. Your way is being made for you.
Let’s find some joy,
A
Avalon Robinson Author 