Clear Direct - Part Two

What Next, Waiting on God's Response

    Paul was eager to serve the lost, both Jew and Gentile, on this his second missionary journey.  He has already retraced his steps going from Derbe to Lystra to Iconium, and then on to Antioch outside Pisidia.  Paul has just received a message from the Holy Spirit that his plans to enter Asia have been thwarted, and not long after we see specific locations that he is not allowed to go:  Mysia and Bithynia.  So what conclusions might Paul have made when he received these repetitive ‘no-go’ messages?  What questions might you have when obstacles replace opportunities as you set plans for your future?  One might question, as I have, why would a loving God close doors and not allow His redemptive message to be delivered to these specific people?  Underlying my question was a false assumption.  God wasn’t preventing His message from arriving, but Paul’s timing was not in sync with God's.  In reality, Paul wasn’t even the right man for the job; God was equipping Peter for that territory. 

     In our eagerness to serve God, do we find ourselves telling God what it is that we want to do, or what we are willing to do before we patiently wait to see where He would have us to go, or agreeing with God that He is equipping us for something different?  We love to draw conclusions about what we’ve planned that will bring glory to God.  Does this sound familiar, or am I the only one who does this? 

     Our insurmountable roadblocks can be one of two things: testing to see how committed we are, or a closed door that tells us God has different plans.  Are we willing to evaluate both options?  Rather than following the path of frustration, could we learn from Paul’s approach and wait with the expectancy that God will make His plans known?  Our God is not a God of confusion, but clarity, so if our direction is silenced by circumstance, we can follow God’s instructions:  Ask, Seek, Knock (Matthew 7:7-12).

     Paul, in obedience to God, did not go where the Holy Spirit told him not to go but instead moved his feet another 200 miles to Troas, a coastal community, where he received clear instructions.  Can you imagine the conversations that Paul, Silas, and Timothy must have had as they walked?  God was solidifying the unity of these men creating love and loyalty between these traveling companions.  The trek from Antioch to Troas may have taken them 7 to 10 days to travel with no meandering along the way.  What do you imagine these men did to encourage their faith?  Do you think they talked about their misfortunes of not being allowed to pursue their plans, or do you think they were intrigued by the mystery of what God was planning for them?

Question: 

1.  What do you do to encourage your faith when God seems to give more ‘no’ than ‘yes’ answers?  

2.  What do you do when God appears to be silent?  

Receiving Clear Directions and Acting Immediately

     God spoke to Paul through a vision.  We can see that God speaks in many ways through the Bible, a burning bush, a fleece left on the ground, through angels, and even through the pursed lips of a donkey.  Donkeys have lips, don’t they?  A man is crying for Paul to come to Macedonia to help them.  How could Paul be confident that this message was from God?  Paul was asking for directions; God delivered a message including a specific location.  Take time now to recall a time when you felt you received a specific assignment or calling.  In what way were you convinced that you had received a Divine revelation?  Did you receive words of confirmation, did the Holy Spirit instill confidence in your soul?  Did you seek Scriptures to see that this direction did not contradict the Word of God?  I believe the speed of Paul’s response tells us how confident he was that the source of his message was God.  We do not see any discussions taking place that show disagreements nor hesitation from any of Paul’s traveling companions.  They all responded with urgency.  The ESV Bible that I use tells me they ‘immediately sought’ (Acts 16:10) their mode of transportation and departed.  They sailed from Troas to the island of Samothrace to the harbor of Neapolis just ten miles outside the large metropolis of Philippi.  We learn that this community in Macedonia is an economic hub for commerce.

     Are you reading Acts 16 alongside my story?  Please do, because I want you to see a subtle shift in perspective.  From verse 1 through 9, the story is recorded from a second-hand perspective.  The pronouns tell us this.  In verse 10, the story shifts to a first-person perspective, as if the story-teller has joined them on this journey.  He uses the pronoun ‘we’ which more than likely indicates that Luke has joined this traveling team in Troas.  Let’s say that Luke has now boarded the sailing vessel and heading for Macedonia along with Paul.  Could this trip across the Aegean Sea offer Luke enough time to capture the relevant details to record the apostles’ past journey?

     At the time of Paul’s arrival, Philippi is recognized as an affluent Roman colony.  One of the contributing factors for this affluence was the existence of gold mining operations.  It may have taken Paul and his team a few days to acclimate to their new surroundings and seek a place of worship.  One may conclude that Paul had not located a synagogue.  We read that these men supposed’ they might find a ‘place of prayer’ outside the gates of the city by the riverside.  By the wording used in Acts 16:13, we can see that they were unsure.  On this particular Sabbath, they found themselves led, not by specifics, but by hunches.  Do you think if they hadn’t followed this hunch the conclusion of this story would be any different?  It was the Sabbath and what Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke would have wanted to do was evangelize, worship, and pray (not necessarily in that order).  They needed to find an audience, I’m sure they sought input from those in the community, but what we do know is that uncertainty didn’t stop them.  Even when Paul didn’t know that he would find people willing to listen, he didn’t allow his uncertainty to prevent him from planting seeds on the Sabbath.

Question: 

1.  When receiving a call to serve, how long does it take you to act upon that request?  Do you hesitate?  Other than whether the request is from God, what further assurance do you seek?

2.  When you cannot see the outcome, has uncertainty ever caused you to hesitate to act on something?  Are you able to see that by Paul’s supposing logic, that God was using this to accomplish His purpose?

Building Relationships 

     As Paul and his traveling team approached the riverside, they sat with women and engaged in conversation.  These conversations probably began much like ours do when we encounter a stranger, “so tell me what you to do for a living.”  So many people label their identity by what they do for a living; it seems an easy place to start a conversation, doesn’t it?   Scriptures reveal Lydia’s occupation before telling us that she was also a worshipper of God.  We also learn where she is from, Thyatira, in which the leading industry is fabric.  Lydia is engaged in selling luxury fabrics to the affluent population in this large metropolitan area of Philippi.  How much imagination does it take, with these facts, to recognize that Lydia is accomplished and respected in this community?  She is influential.   Do you lead with the same question when meeting strangers, “what do you do for a living?”  How much does the answer to this question influence your perception of that person?  When introducing yourself to others, what are the first words you use to describe yourself?  Do you lead with ‘what you do,’ or ‘where you build your foundation that defines who you are?’  That’s a crazy question, or is it?  I hope you will think about this the next time someone asks you to tell them something about who you are.

     The facts, telling who Lydia is, seemed relevant to Luke when writing this account for us.  It would help his readers to understand that she must have been both prominent and wealthy.  Many people will even conclude that Lydia is a widow, but might one wonder if she had ever been married?  The assumption that is made drawing this conclusion is that if Lydia were married, she would more than likely had sought someone’s permission before she invited foreign men to come to her home.

     When I was just twenty-four years old, I moved to Kentucky from Michigan as a result of a job transfer.  I decided to set down roots, so rather than continuing to rent an apartment, I decided to buy my first home.  I was single at the time.  I remember sitting with my real estate agent and a financial officer who would approve my mortgage.  I found the questions and responses from this financial officer to be very degrading as he asked me how much alimony I was receiving from my divorce that would allow me the privilege to buy a home at the age of twenty-four.  It was probably a question on the loan application; however, it was the way he worded his question that I found so offensive.  He had assumed that I had been married, a false assumption.  Only a few statements later he leaned over and loudly whispered to my real estate agent, “I think she actually understands the financial information we are discussing,” as if I wasn’t involved in the conversation.  It was my first exposure to the ‘good old boys’ network.  I try not to hold on to that story for any reason other than to use it as an example.  God had blessed me with financial stability, and I was worthy of this investment regardless of the prejudgment I encountered.   I’ve been known to judge as well.   

     The facts of the story reveal that Lydia must have had a home in Philippi where she was conducting business, as her hometown, Thyatira was nearly 240 miles away and not the location to which she offered her hospitality.   

 Question:

1.  What is the most valuable piece of information you would hope to acquire about a stranger upon meeting?

2.  We learn that God opened the heart of Lydia as she listened to Paul’s message of Salvation.  Paul would barely know how receptive these women would be to this message of salvation, yet he shared it anyway.  Have you ever been hindered to share the gospel message with someone because you didn’t know how receptive they would be to hear?  Would the hinderance be more about their reception (a) to you or (b) to the message?   We may not consider what is stopping us unless we ask ourselves this question.

3.  Scripture tells us that God is the one who opens hearts, not us.  Would this story in some way convince you to find common ground with another person for the opportunity to share how God provides a secure future for us?  

Overcoming Obstacles 

     Stay tuned, this article will conclude with Part Three.