Have you suffered defeat? Has a group of people ganged up on you and overwhelmed you? Have you lost a job because of unsubstantiated rumors? Have you lost a loved one to a disease? Do you wonder how you can continue to move forward?
We face catastrophic events in our lives. Some are more severe than others. We may face friends and family turning on us. We may experience the sudden death of a spouse, sibling, parent, or child. We may face suddenly being fired from our job.
When we face catastrophic events, it seems our entire world is crumbling around us. Our minds race to find answers. We long to hear good advice. We long for silence to grieve. We aren’t sure what we want, other than the situation to be reversed or resolved.
We may hear things will be okay. We may hear things will turn around. We may hear a loved one would want us to carry on. We may have a close friend come sit beside us without giving any advice. We inherently know the advice is good but have no desire to take the next step.
Sometimes the best thing to do is wait on God. No, we don’t like waiting. We want immediate resolution. But God has a reason for waiting and He moves at the right time in the right way. This is when our trust in God is tested. It is in times like this that we see God move in mighty and unexpected ways.
We see in today’s passage the apostle Paul being stoned and left for dead. We see other disciples gather around him and him get up. Though not stated in the passage, we can reasonably assume God protected Paul from death. God had a purpose for Paul to fulfill. He continued on the mission God laid out for him the next day. I’m sure it was not easy for Paul. He may have struggled walking and experienced bruised muscles that ached the entire time he walked to the next city. Yet, Paul maintained his trust in God.
We, too, must maintain our trust in God. We must build our trust in Him before a catastrophe occurs. Paul had built his trust long before he was stoned. He knew God had a mission for him to accomplish. God has a mission for each one of us, even if we don’t fully understand what it is. It is our faith in God and God acting on our behalf that will get us through the catastrophic circumstance.
I pray we all increase our trust in God. I pray we understand God has a mission for us. I pray each one of us prepares ourselves for the catastrophe by experiencing God. Build your trust in God. Know God has a mission for you. Rely on God in all situations. Experience God.
Acts 14:19-20 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
Marty Pressey 