God never wastes our pain and suffering. He will somehow use our difficulties for His glory. A former pastor’s wife told me that when I was fresh out of college and in the midst of youth work. It wasn’t the youth work that was causing heartache in my life, although I confess that there were times when I was in tears, brokenhearted over the kids He entrusted to my care. But it was actually the end of a relationship with a man I probably adored a little too much – as in I put him on a pedestal. Nevertheless, I never forgot those words that brought as much comfort as I could have allowed at such a time.
A broken relationship is one thing, but being unjustly imprisoned is quite another. In Philippians 1:12-14, we find Paul elaborating more on his circumstances. He loved the Philippians and wanted them to know that God was not wasting his incarceration. Paul communicated, contrary to what they may have been thinking, that his imprisonment was not an obstacle but rather an opportunity to bring the gospel to a place that would have otherwise been off limits. What we readers might not know and certainly can’t glean within the text itself is that Paul was actually chained to a soldier 24 hours a day. Within one day, he was fastened to four different men, each having six-hour shifts. Knowing Paul, do you think he was just going to sit there in silence attached to these guards as the hours and days passed? Better yet, was he going to merely shoot the breeze with these fellows? Of course not! This was a pioneering opportunity to bring the gospel to the elite palace guards who may never have had an opportunity to hear. God brought His vessel, His mouthpiece, to proclaim the good news. Some may have thought that his chains impeded his missionary work, but on the contrary, that effort continued as he proclaimed the Word of God to these men. Further, as the Roman government tried to unravel the mysteries of this new “sect” called Christianity to see if it was a threat to them, some of the officials were converted as they studied the doctrines of the Christian faith. I don’t think anyone – Paul, the soldiers, the Roman government, or all the believers of that time – imagined that such a thing would result from Paul’s imprisonment. Truly his chains were furthering the gospel in inconceivable ways. God’s ways are definitely higher than ours.
The impact of Paul’s chains didn’t stop there. At a time when it wasn’t necessarily safe to be preaching the gospel out in the open in Rome, the fact that God was using Paul so powerfully in prison gave courage to those believers outside the prison walls to continue in their evangelizing efforts. Even if they were put in prison as Paul was, the gospel would continue to go forth with great power. Paul’s attitude regarding his present circumstances had a profound impact on the believers in Rome who stepped up with great power and courage, guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. I can imagine their bravery as they proclaimed with confidence, “If Paul can do it, so can we.” What a leader the apostle Paul was.
This morning I was “chained” to my endodontist for a few hours. Well, actually he was in and out of the room as dental experts do when performing root canals and the like, but for all intents and purposes, I was there and wasn’t going anywhere until he was done. I had an opportunity to proclaim something amazing about God but failed, and I didn’t recognize it until the opportunity had passed. The tooth he was working on had calcified, and I declared how amazing it was that our bodies take care of themselves in such remarkable ways rather than proclaiming how awesome it was that God designed our bodies to respond in such a way. I felt like an utter failure and began wondering if such proclamations would ever be on the tip of my tongue – that whenever I speak it would be to declare something beautiful about our God. I wonder.
Pray for courage to boldly speak the truth wherever you are to whomever you are with.
Oh Father, that Your truths would roll off of our tongues. That we would joyfully and firmly, without fear, proclaim who You are to a lost world or a wavering believer. That our words would be seasoned with love and grace always. Tame our tongues and use them for Your glory. Amen.
2 comments:
Angie,
Wow. I can just imagine Paul being chained to a guard 24 hours a day. Yucky!
I agree with you that it is an honorable desire to have declarations of God's glory on the tips of our tongues. Being ever mindful of his wonders and being willing to share those with others is a very, very good thing.
However, I don't think by saying, "I declared how amazing it was that our bodies take care of themselves in such remarkable ways rather than proclaiming how awesome it was that God designed our bodies to respond..." is something bad. I understand the disappointment you felt and not crediting God, but you didn't discredit him either. Of course, only you know what the Spirit would have had you say. But since he didn't lay it on your heart to say it until after the fact, maybe it wasn't the time and place.
Here's what I'm saying, and I'm not knocking what you said, because like I said, being willing to tell others about God's love is extremely important, but I don't think that if Paul spent some of his hours of imprisonment shooting the breeze with the guards - I don't think those would be wasted hours.
Have you ever met somebody who couldn't shoot the breeze? Who had to mention God's name in every thing they said? They don't, in my opinion, appear to be very healthy minded people. Or perhaps they have a strict (unreal) division of what is sacred and what is secular?
Anyway, I hope this isn't received as a "negative" comment. It's so hard to debate ideas on-line. People (me) can come across really heartless in print.
So let me end it with this. I am enjoying this bible study. It's great to have the accountability and I greatly, greatly appreciate all the research you do. And, it's so cool to see what a great writer you are.
Love ya,
alice
Okay, so I think Paul probably did shoot the breeze, but I think he was probably quite purposeful in his conversations with these soldiers. What I intended my words to say, was that Paul didn't just have small talk with them. I'll go in now and correct it so it reads that way.
Alice and I have discussed this a bit further, and I still stand firm in thinking that I should have been more forthright about giving God the praise for creating our bodies to take care of themselves in amazing ways, even if I thought of it after the fact.
I also shared with Alice that I have known someone who spoke of God continually, and it never once seemed unreal or ridiculous or whatever one might think. It was beautiful. Since meeting this professor's wife my senior year at Taylor, she is someone I have admired because of her love for the Word and the way she speaks it continually. I don’t think I ever heard her speak with an unbeliever – just never had that opportunity, but I think she would still point them to God with all that she would say. So these people exist.
Keep the dialogue coming. It's fun. :-)
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