I am intrigued by the adventures of Paul and Silas in Philippi, described in Acts 16:
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." She kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment, the spirit left her.
When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown in to prison and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks...
Okay, so this demonized girl was following them and proclaiming the truth. They WERE in fact servants of The Most High God who were telling people the way to be saved. But over time, Paul gets so annoyed that he casts the demon out. Then, as they say, "The Fight Started." So here is my question for Paul, when I get to heaven some day: Did God tell him to cast it out, or was that a Flesh move on his part, that God honored anyway?
I am thinking of Moses STRIKING the rock in Numbers 20, instead of Speaking to the rock, as God had commanded. God still honored the request by giving the people water through his actions, but his future with God was diminished. Deuteronomy 20:12 tells us:
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "BECAUSE YOU DID NOT TRUST IN ME ENOUGH to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."
So I wonder, what would have happened if Paul hadn't become vexed and cast it out. Would people who knew the slave girl spoke the future had listened to her and come to hear Paul speak? Much like the woman at the well in John 4:28-30?
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" They came out of town and made their way toward him... Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
What would have happened if Paul hadn't cast it out? In some cities, Paul caused riots immediately, but in Ephesus (Acts 19:10), God arranged it for Paul to stay and teach for two whole years, "So that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord." Would Paul have preached longer in Philippi? Would he have avoided a beating and jail time? Maybe?
I think sometimes God shows us things in the Spirit, not to take action, but for our own understanding of the situation. Or maybe because God is sharing purely out of friendship. No action is required, or even desirable. Maybe we are just supposed to pray for that person or situation. Maybe in this case, Paul DID hear from God, but if so, why didn't he cast it out immediately? I pray God gives us sensitivity, not just to listen to what He is telling us, but to understand when to ACT. And when NOT to. And to not make Spiritual actions for Fleshly reasons. And that nothing would goad us into unauthorized action.
We take up Paul and Silas' story again in Acts 16:25:
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, the doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved- you and your household." Then they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God- he and his whole family.
As Christians, we tend to focus on the Philippian jailer and his family becoming believers, but we forget about the other prisoners. In verse 25, it says,
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them...
Some of my friends and family have wondered why God allowed me to get cancer, why God doesn't just heal me, as He clearly is able to do. I think one of His reasons is that the other prisoners are listening! He wants me in this place for a season, to pray and to sing and to write. Not for me (okay, maybe for me) but also for THEM! The others in my cancer circle, who are wondering where God is in all of this.
The other prisoners knew Paul and Silas had been beaten AND flogged. They may have heard their screams from around the corner as the whips ripped the flesh from their backs. And fresh from this agony, they were put in the stocks. And yet, they were praying to God, and SINGING to Him??? Can you imagine their amazement?
Next, God sends a mighty earthquake, such that the doors of the prison open and everyone's chains came loose- pulling out of their anchoring in the walls. Yet nobody moved. But why? Could it be that they recognized the Presence of God in that place, saw what God just did, and they didn't want to leave because they wanted to see what God would do next? The Bible doesn't say, but that's my theory.
I have been to church services where God showed up and nobody wanted to go home. Because God was there, and people were hungry to encounter him. The preacher had quit preaching hours ago, but God was there! Why would you want to be anywhere else? I pray those days come again, where the other prisoners are listening-- and choose to stay...
May we each encounter God today, wherever we are. And no matter what that looks like-- may we choose to stay.
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