July 18, 2010

Acts 21:1-17
The will of the Lord is sometimes ambiguous to us, not to Him, but to us. Paul already testified in 20:23 that the Holy Spirit had told him that chains and tribulation awaited Him. In Tyre the disciples told him through the Spirit not to go to Jerusalem. In Caesarea Agabus the prophet told Paul that the Holy Spirit said that He would be bound in Jerusalem. Did the Lord Jesus Christ want him to go to Jerusalem? It seems ambiguous to me. Was what the Holy Spirit telling Paul just a warning of what would happen and wanted to happen or was it a warning that Paul shouldn’t go to Jerusalem or this would happen to him? Jesus had given the job of going to the Gentiles to Paul. Paul had told the Romans that he desired to go to Spain with the gospel. Why is he headed to Jerusalem? His job isn’t to reach Jews of Jerusalem. So where’s the glory in all this?
If this was what the Lord wanted Paul to do, then His glory is seen in Paul’s clear willingness to endure chains for the glory of the Lord. If this is not what the Lord wanted Paul to do, then His glory is seen in that the Lord took Paul’s obstinacies and still used them for His glory. Some church historians think that Paul made it to Spain after his first imprisonment in Rome. So should I be worried about ambiguity in the will of the Lord? Well, if I miss the will of the Lord, He will make it work out anyway. It may mean a lot of hardship for me. But He will work it out. He is glorified. If I properly discern the will of the Lord, I glorify Him and I may miss some self-imposed hardships. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John