When we type a destination in our GPS, we trust it to take us where we need to go. The same should be true of our trust in God.
Paul was a great foundation block in the early Church. Many of our modern religious precepts are based on the letters he wrote to the burgeoning congregations of his day.
However, in the real world of Paul’s everyday life, he faced challenges that would have knocked many of us flat. How did he survive his challenges? He made the decision to follow God’s leading, no matter where God instructed him to go.
Let’s look at one of Paul’s most difficult decisions:
Paul was on a great ministry circuit leading him through Coos, Rhodes, Patara, Phenicia, Cyprus, Syria, and Tyre. Acts 21:4 tells us he found several disciples in Tyre and spent a week with them. During this time, they shared a deep concern for Paul’s safety, encouraging him not to go up to Jerusalem. They explained that the Spirit had spoken to them, and there was evil awaiting Paul if he continued on.
Paul had a decision to make, and it had to be the right one. He had to decide to follow God.
After continuing on to Tyre, Ptolemais, and Caesarea, a prophet called Agabus came from Judea, telling Paul that the Jews at Jerusalem would bind Paul and deliver him unto the gentiles. Acts 21:12 tells us Paul’s companions beseeched him not to go to Jerusalem.
Yet Paul knew what he knew. His only option was to follow God’s leading, and God was leading him to Jerusalem.
Paul answered his beseechers, “I am prepared to die for the name of our Lord.”
He went to Jerusalem as God had instructed, only to be bound just as the prophet Agabus had said.
What was God’s point in all this? It was for Paul to have the opportunity to retell his conversion experience before the highest ranking people of the city. Through his confrontation in Jerusalem, Paul was able to share the Gospel with many of his harshest critics.
It is in Acts 22:10, as Paul spoke before his critics, that Paul reveals he had used the earliest GPS system known: The Lord had told Paul to arise and go, and when the time was right, he would reveal what he wanted him to do. Paul only needed to know one step at a time, and that was all that God would give him.
Just like our modern day GPS.
When we let our spiritual GPS guide us, we mustn’t continually ask it our end destination every step of the way. We must rely on it to reveal to us the next turn we need to make. If we take one set of directions at a time and follow them, we will reach the destination God needs us to be.
If we follow God’s instructions for today, he will take care of our tomorrow.
Copyright © 2013 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.F.13.13.vp
Throwback Thursday: Originally Published August 20, 2013 in Faith