Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Acts 22:17-24
17 “It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, 18 and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ 19 “And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You. 20 ‘And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.’ 21 “And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'” 22 They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!” 23 And as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.

As Paul ends his speech we see that he was not convincing enough.  Right after his conversion, he recalls a vision from Jesus telling him to stay out of Jerusalem because they will reject him.  Now, he has been called to Jerusalem led by the Holy Spirit fully knowing he will most likely die.  There was a similar sentiment with Jesus as he many times fled crowds gathering around him as it was “not His time yet.”  Now it’s Paul’s time to be martyred.  The time has come for him to face the Jews in Jerusalem.  Would you walk into a situation like that?  Would you, prompted by God’s Spirit, walk into almost certain death?  We saw that Paul’s friends tried preventing him for a while until they realized collectively it was God’s will.

The interesting response here is that of the Roman commander.  His inclination to scourge Paul, I think, came from hearing Paul’s impressive testimony and then seeing that the Jews were unconvinced.  Something didn’t quite add up so the commander, being impressed by Paul’s words yet influenced by the angry crowd, decided there must be something else going on and he had to get to the bottom of it.  How would you respond to a situation like this?  Would you follow your heart or your civic duty?  Aside from the commander’s duty to investigate all civil disturbances, he had an internal conflict of trying to figure out why the Jews were so intent on killing him despite his apparent close relationship with God.

Which side of this story are you on?  Are you the one being misheard and misunderstood?  Has the Holy Spirit led you into a lion’s den of people wanting to persecute you regardless of what you say?  Or maybe you are a part of the mob, sticking to what you have been taught and trained for your whole life and refusing to hear the challenging words of others.  Are you the Roman commander caught in the middle of your worldly convictions and God’s Kingdom?

I think that we rotate between these three characters during our spiritual growth.  There are times that God calls us to be bold and tell His story to those that don’t care to hear it as an exercise in faith and following the leading of the Spirit.  Sometimes we are challenged in our current religiosity and beliefs so that we can grow and learn more of God’s truth.  Other times we feel trapped between the ways of this world and God’s revelation.  Being in these situations aren’t wrong, but we always have a choice as to how we handle it.  Do we boldly address the crowd with the strength of the Spirit or do we cower away and accept our unjust punishment?  Do we put our current beliefs aside and listen to what someone else has to say or do we throw rocks and follow the crowd?  Do we follow through with what our society and circumstance dictates when confronted by God or do we stop and think about what is right?