With such a prominent position, you might expect Paul to
have been especially blessed: doing God’s work; getting God’s blessings. The
biblical record says otherwise. For starters, he was on the wrong side of the
new work God began with the introduction of Messiah. Paul was what we would
call a staunch conservative when it came to Jewish law. Being a Pharisee, he
was in Jesus’ crosshairs much of the time. Perhaps Paul was not among the
hypocritical group Jesus criticized, but he was certainly mistaken about the
true nature of Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God. Paul’s zealous persecution
of the disciples of Jesus make him the seem like the least likely choice for
the work God had planned.
But there it is. On his way to arrest the Christians in
Damascus, Paul had a one-on-one encounter with the risen Messiah. Blinded and
led by the hand into the city, he had three days to reconsider his position.
When Ananias told him the plans God had for him, he was sufficiently humbled to
take him at his word. After he began meeting with the church in Damascus, you
might think his troubles were over. Not so. The Jews he had turned away from
came to the city to do what he had been sent to do: arrest him as a blasphemer.
He had to sneak out of the city by night.
At this point, Paul’s circumstances become a little unclear.
We know from what he told various people in his letters that he travelled home
to Tarsus and later to Jerusalem. During these “missing years,” he spent
considerable time in the Arabian desert being taught by Jesus Himself. He
also reports spending time in “heaven,” but he is unsure whether he was in
or out of his body at the time. He was told things during that unique
experience that he was not allowed to share with anyone. Imagine that!
When his missionary journeys began, Paul was already a
well-respected member of the early church leadership. His supernatural call and
his unique time with Jesus would seem to have placed him in a position of
privilege. Again, not so. Throughout his journeys, Paul was imprisoned several
times, beaten with rods, stoned to death (they thought), and shipwrecked while
on his way to trial before Caesar himself. We are told he spent two years in prison
in Caesarea, and we believe he spent as much as two years under house arrest in
Rome awaiting trial. Yet he was not discouraged. He
told the Philippians, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my
circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that
my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the
whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren,
trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak
the word of God without fear.”
This was not the first time God used less than pleasant
circumstances to further His plans. Consider that Joseph spent years in prison
in Egypt before he was used by God to save His people. Moses spent 40 years in
the desert tending his father-in-law’s sheep before God called him. Jeremiah
was detained on more than one occasion for speaking God’s word to the Jewish
leaders. One might also question why God left his people without a witness for
four hundred years between the last prophet and the revelation of John the
Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah.
The most egregious slight of all would seem to be that God’s
own Son was rejected and murdered by the people He came to save. Every
Christian is familiar with Peter’s
explanation of why that happened: “this man [Jesus], delivered up by the
determined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing
to a cross through the hand of lawless men. God raised Him up,
having brought to an end the pains of death, because it was not possible for him
to be held by it.” It was God’s “determined plan” to bring salvation to all who
believe through the death and resurrection of His Son. Hallelujah!
Many years ago, I suffered ministry burnout and left my
career as a Christian school teacher. I intended to take a short sabbatical but
instead I spent twelve years driving a truck. Looking back, I can see that God
used that time to reshape my thinking and my behavior. Satellite radio in the
truck provided hours of Christian teaching and music, and I did some serious
soul searching as well. I asked myself if God had put me “on the shelf” like He
did with Paul’s prison time and Moses forty years in the desert. My wife will
testify that I am a different person – a better person for having spent that
time away from paid ministry. I think I am a better witness for Christ than I
was before.
Paul encourages believers to examine themselves to be sure
they are living appropriately. God can use every season of our lives for His
purpose. We need to be sure we are getting the most out of our circumstances
and doing the best we can to fulfill God’s will for our lives. If you are not
completely happy with your circumstances, maybe you need to ask not why, but
what is God doing that is for your benefit and for His perfect will in your
life. One of Paul’s
most surprising statements comes after having lived through his many trials
and tribulations: “I have learned to be content in whatever state I am.” He
could undoubtedly see why God had done all that He had done. We need to imitate
Paul.
Related posts: The
Goodness of God in the Bad Times; Can You
Praise God?; Finding
God in COVID 19; Today’s
Chaldean Chastisement; Working
All Things for Good; Two
Pressing Questions; Ask the
Right Question; Content
in Whatever State I Am
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