Have you ever felt like someone was out to get you?
Like there were clandestine meetings of people plotting your demise?
That is where Paul is at today in our reading from Acts:
When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”
Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”
Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” And he wrote a letter to this effect:
“Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”
So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him. When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod’s praetorium. (Acts 23:12-35 ESV)
Many are plotting against him, wanting him dead. 40 to be exact, or at least 40 because that is the number that said they would not eat or drink until he was dead…
And how many times have we had someone come to us and say that they heard of a group meeting, or people talking about what they were going to do to us. Warning us, stepping in and being a word of warning…
I believe there is no such thing a a coincidence, but God-incidence… I recently read a post from Donald Miller that talked about God not having a plan for our lives, but that does not mean that God does not use us where we are with the gifts He have given us to be an influence in the world around us. God has people in our lives for reasons we will never know, but the one we all know and sometimes ignore is that we can not make it alone in this world!
Paul needed his sister’s son, centurions, the tribune, the legion of soldiers, the governor and many many others. But God gave all of them life and put them in a place where they could be a use to Paul in a time of need. God may not have planned every last detail, but the author of creation created people and nature and put them together so His will was done. God-incidence…
So the next time the world is against you, cry out to God and look around you for the people He has placed in your life to help you!
aSacredRebel 