Not By Chance

Passage: Acts 24

When the Apostle Paul became a Christ-follower, God said to one of the disciples, “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16). As Paul’s story progresses, we see him endure constant adversity and tremendous suffering (Paul himself gives a litany of his trials here). Yet Paul relentlessly pursues his mission: to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

In Acts 24 Paul is brought before a Roman court by proponents of Judaism. Paul has been arrested because of a riot that broke out following one of his sermons (happens to me all the time). At his hearing he sets the record straight about who he is, what he believes, and what he’s up to. Felix, the Roman governor, seems very sympathetic to Paul’s case, and it seems obvious that Paul will be acquitted. It comes as a shock that the postscript to the story is that Felix keeps Paul in prison for two years, for no other reason than he’s hoping Paul will bribe him. Paul is left in limbo when Felix is replaced by another governor who knows nothing about Paul or his case.

We can only imagine Paul’s frustration at the situation. I get testy if my line at the grocery store doesn’t move after a couple minutes. I go out of my mind if I’m stuck in a traffic jam for more than 20 minutes. How would I handle losing 2 years of my life (or more) to a wrongful imprisonment? It would be easy for Paul to conclude that God’s forgotten about him. Or that his time is being wasted. That somehow this is a pointless detour from his all-important mission.
By all accounts Paul concludes none of the above. He doesn’t give in to self-pity. He doesn’t complain about his time being wasted. He doesn’t claim that these two years are anything but part of God’s plan for him. There is widespread speculation that Paul wrote his Letter to the Philippians sometime during this imprisonment. Here’s one of the things Paul says:
Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly… The important thing is that…Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. (Philippians 1:12-14;18)

What would it take for us to live with this kind of focus and this kind of conviction? To embrace that everything we do is part of our mission to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ? And to believe that every event happens not by chance but as part of God’s plan for us? Listen to this excerpt from the Heidelberg Catechism:
What do you understand by the providence of God?
Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty; all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand. (Q & A 27)

We may not always like what God brings us. But we find comfort in knowing that God is in control, and that everything we experience is part of his plan.