March 23, 2011

Reading for March 21-25
Acts 21:23-40
Wednesday

Mob Scene Part 2

”As they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately called out his soldiers and officers and ran down among the crowd. When the mob saw the commander and the troops coming, they stopped beating Paul." Acts 21:32-33 (NLT)

Help Comes From Places We Would Least Expect

Pastor’s Reflection

Have you ever been rescued from life threatening situation? In this case Paul was about to be killed by his own people, people whom he loved and never repudiated (see Romans 9-11)

Not only did he experience an 11th hour rescue, the rescue came not from God’s people, rather from those the Jews considered their enemies. A Roman commander came to his rescue.

Lesson: God can use anything and anyone to accomplish his purposes. Sometimes God uses God’s enemies to bring about His salvation. At Jesus Birth, Caesar called a census which resulted in Jesus’ having been born in Bethlehem, the town predicted for the Messiah’s birth back in Micah 5:2. Had not God used the most powerful man in the world at the time as a pawn in His plan, Jesus would have been born in Nazareth.

God will accomplish his plan no matter what. This is why the safest place on earth, maybe not from an earthly perspective, but certainly from an eternal one, is in the hands of God.