July 22, 2010

Acts 23:16-35
Life is full of the mundane and occasionally intrigues. Certainly Paul's life was. Do you ever stop to think that the Lord sometimes controls even the intrigue going on around us? The Council leaders had plotted to kill Paul. They had already done it with Jesus, James the brother of John, and had tried it with Peter, but the Lord foiled it. Now, they are trying it with Paul. But as we saw yesterday, the Lord was not done with Paul yet. He still had an appointment to keep with Caesar. How was Paul going to get from a Jerusalem prison to Rome? And once in Rome, how would he ever get an audience with Caesar? This intrigue sets in motion a series of events the gets Paul a free boat ride to Caesar. God uses Paul's nephew to unveil the plot. Paul's sister did not come--probably because it would have been too obvious. Perhaps she did not even know about the plot. The Scripture says the commander took the boy by the hand and went aside. That tells me he was fairly young, probably not teen-aged years yet--at least, I wouldn't take a teen-aged boy by the hand. But the boy comes by himself and gives a fairly eloquent report. The Scripture calls him a young man. He must have had his bar mitzvah already. He was probably around 12. Was Paul's sister's son a believer? Or was he just looking after his family? Since Paul had been quite influential before he met Jesus, it is quite likely that his sister was married to someone of an influential rank. Perhaps her husband sat on the council, or at least still had friends or acquaintances who sat on the council. Whatever the case may be, the Lord used his enemies to get Paul a ticket to see Caesar. Not first class accommodations but, they will do. This is kind of mundane. Yet, our Lord works in it. If we look, He is working in the mundane around us. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John