Acts 16
Read: Acts 16
Sometimes God works in mysterious ways and we just have to trust him until the mystery is revealed. In Acts 16, we read that Paul and Silas, “had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.” How confusing this must have been? Clearly Paul had been tasked with spreading the good news of Jesus to all people, but here it seems like God is contradicting himself. Speak the message, just not to those people? It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but Paul and Silas are obedient.
That night, Paul had a vision of a Macedonian calling for help. Because of this, they went to Macedonia and we see that the fields were very ripe for harvesting (See Matthew 9:35-38). Paul met a woman named Lydia, who believed the good news about Jesus and her whole household was baptized. This was the beginning of the Macedonian church. This is the same church that is praised over and over again for their generosity despite hardships (2 Corinthians 8:1-5; Philippians 4:10-20). God had great plans for this church, and there would be receptive people there. I do not think God didn’t want the people of Asia to hear the message… Instead it seems that at that time, they were not yet ready to hear it like the Macedonians were.
Have you ever had something terrible happen that turned out to be for good in the end? Because of the commotion that Paul and Silas started when spreading the message in Macedonia, they were thrown in jail. Even though I’m sure that the jail was no picnic with their feet secured in the stocks, interestingly enough, Paul and Silas joyfully prayed and sang hymns to God while the other prisoners (and likely guards) listened to them. A great earthquake came and the doors of the prison were opened so the prisoners could escape. For the guard, this was terrible! He could be killed or imprisoned for letting his prisoners escape. To avoid that shame, he decides to take his own life. Paul could have just let him do it. That would have made it much easier to escape, but oddly enough that’s not how he responds. He says, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!” Almost immediately the guard falls down before Paul and Silas and asks what he must do to be saved. What an amazing testimony! Surely everyone in the jail was impacted by this event. It must have been clear to everyone that there was certainly something different about these two men.
As a result of Paul and Silas being faithful not to go to Asia, but instead to Macedonia, Lydia and her household were saved and so was the jailer, his household, and likely many prisoners that aren’t mentioned. Sometimes God uses bad circumstances to accomplish his will. When you are facing a trial, trust in the Lord. You may one day look back on it with a thankful heart realizing that it was a missing piece that you needed to complete the puzzle of life.
