Last week we noted how there was providence at every step on Paul’s journey, all of which finally led to Lydia. But the story gets better…sort of. Where does God’s providence lead Paul next? It leads into a riot, after which he and another companion, Silas, are severely beaten and then thrown in prison. Why does God allow this? God didn’t want the crowd to riot or the officials to beat Paul and Silas; there is no ‘reason’ to be found in these actions. However, we see here that God was working out his perfect providence through this situation. All that suffering leads them to bring the light of God to a certain gaoler. God really loved that Philippian gaoler. He loved him so much that he sent his son, Paul, to suffer, so that he could be saved. But Paul was only there for that gaoler because God had done the same thing for him: he sent his son Jesus, to suffer and die, so that Paul could be saved. And Jesus taught us that if any of us are to follow him, if we are to bear the kind of fruit that his life bore, if we are to walk God’s path and meet those people that God wants us to meet, people like the Philippian gaoler, then he says, we should take up our cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). By this he meant that God’s pathway of perfect providence will lead you through great inconvenience, to say the least. Jesus is calling us to give up convenience for fruitfulness.
Ask God to do whatever it takes to make you fruitful and reflect on what this might mean.
Read Acts 16:16-40
