Let Me "Acts" You A Question...

In Acts 21 Agabus the prophet, warns Paul about returning to Jerusalem. He would be literally bound in restraints if he went. Also other believers prophesied that Paul shouldn't go to Jerusalem. But what did Paul do? He went to Jerusalem! I've wrestled with my thoughts on this. It seems God was literally giving him a get out of jail free card by warning him not to go. I wondered why Paul would choose to go knowing the difficulties he could have avoided. However I believe God put a new spin on this for me. No matter whether it was God's original intent for Paul to go, God used it for good. Paul reached the unreachable.

As you continue reading the following chapters of Acts, Paul is falsely arrested because of the Jewish leaders. He ends up exposing His Roman citizenship and how he is entitled to a trial. (Acts 22) Paul ends up standing before the Jewish high council and then sent to Caeserea to the Roman governor Felix. He spends 2 years there in prison, meeting often with Felix. (Acts 23, 24) Paul then meets Felix's successor, Festus. Festus ends up discussing Paul's case with the visiting King Agrippa and his sister Bernice. Paul gets an opportunity to stand before all 3 sharing his testimony. Later on, Paul stands before high ranking military officials, chief officials, and more Jewish leaders. In Acts 27:23-26, an angel appears to Paul, confirming he'd stand before the Emperor.

In short, because of Paul's decision to return to Jerusalem, he gained the ear of kings. He shared his testimony with powerful men that ordinary men may never come face to face with.

I believe Paul's experience was Romans 8:28 being manifested. "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

Now I've seen commentary of whether Paul sinned by ignoring the warning not to travel to Jerusalem or that he was if anything, wrong. To that I say, it is God who convicts us, namely the work of the Holy Spirit because He leads us to all truth. (John 16) We only know this story in part. We also have no knowledge of what and if God personally spoke to him. There's no verse recorded that his going was equal to disobedience or sin. What I do know is we need to stop trying to be each others Holy Spirit! I repeat. Stop trying to be people's Holy Spirit!

I believe we spend too much time as believers trying to discern people's intentions and heart when God has made it clear He's the only One with this ability. (1 Sam 16:7, Jer 17:10, Prov 16:2, 1 Kings 8:39, Ps 44:1) Yes, God can and does give us discernment, wisdom, words of knowledge, and prophetic words, but I think we sometimes infer more than He actually reveals. We exalt our opinion to fact. We can incorrectly assume God only speaks to us about other people and not directly to them. In doing this, we make ourselves and God out to be fault finders rather than portraying Him as a Redeemer. In trying to take the place of the Holy Spirit we inadvertently or God forbid, purposefully, condemn each other based on actions we disagree with. Let me also be clear. God never gives us revelations about people's private lives for no reason and it is never done to exalt us. Contrastingly what if God's motive for that type of revelation is to actually see what you will do with what you learn? Do you pray for them, try to restore them, carry a burden for them, or instead gossip and back bite. God holds messengers accountable too. I digress.

Moreover with the emphasis Paul was in error going to Jerusalem, we'd have to then disqualify everything that followed. Throw the baby out with the bath water. Disregard the fruit that was produced. The truth is God used Paul's trials to plant seeds. God used Paul's trials to spread the gospel. If we can stop focusing on the origination of trials, we can see how our trials can be used to God's glory. The origination does not negate the power God can bring in and through the trial.

To close, I am in no way saying God doesn't use us to expose truth and play a role in warning, repentance, or even restoration. I am saying anything not filtered through love, mercy, and grace leads to an overemphasis on the wrong points. We sometimes get so caught up on the beginning of the story that we miss the middle and end. We get sidetracked by the back story that we miss the beauty and power of the entire story God is writing.

Acts 23:11 says "That night the Lord appeared to Paul and said, “Be encouraged, Paul. Just as you have been a witness to me here in Jerusalem, you must preach the Good News in Rome as well.” What message did Jesus have for Paul? Encouragement not discouragement. As our brothers and sisters face trials, they need encouragement to keep going, not discouragement that leads them to give up.

Even if someone has sinned or gotten off track, do we have such a small view of God to think His will still can't be done? Just because it may not have been God's original plan doesn't mean there's no testimony being birthed. I believe God choses to highlight our progress and potential over our imperfections. If He constantly replayed our shortcomings we'd be too discouraged to follow Him.

Again, I have no idea if Paul sinned by going to Jerusalem in Acts 21. What I do know is an overemphasis on this negates the testimony that came from his journey. In Acts 21 and the rest of Acts, we see a God that is constantly working out the impossible and promoting us to places we don't deserve. Where we see problems, He has and is the solution.