Act 21 - A Blog in 28 Acts

Thy Will Be Done.
Read all of Acts 21 here.

After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.' When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done." - Acts 21:10-14

Thy will be done. We say these words every time we recite the Lord’s Prayer. We talk about doing God’s will. But do we really understand what God’s will could demand of us? Sometimes God’s will is easy to understand and accomplish. Other times it seems nearly impossible to comprehend and terrifying to accomplish. It seemed that way for Jesus. For Jesus, God’s will meant sacrificing his life for all of us. For Paul, it meant giving his life up as a testimony to Jesus.

In this story, we read that Paul was with some of his friends in Caesarea when a prophet named Agabus came to him and described his upcoming imprisonment for the Gospel and future suffering. Paul’s friends pleaded with him not to go and to avoid the suffering to come, but Paul responds decisively, “I am not only ready to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Apparently, Paul said it with such conviction that he couldn’t be convinced otherwise. Finally the only thing left for the people to say is, “The Lord’s will be done”. Paul’s friends understood that as hard as it was for them to fathom, Paul’s destiny was to suffer for the cause of Christ. What faith Paul had! What deep understanding of the ways of God his friends had!

Put yourself in this story today. What if you were Paul and a prophet approached you and told you that you would be imprisoned and tortured when you traveled to a nearby city? Then imagine that all of your closest friends were begging you not to go. But you have deep conviction that you are supposed to go to that city because God wants you to and because you actually choose to suffer for Christ’s name to be glorified. Imagine this situation if your best friend is Paul. How hard would it be to accept that God actually wants your friend to be imprisoned for His sake?

I am amazed and humbled by the faith and trust of the people in this passage. Paul had the courage to know what was right. His friends trusted God in the midst of their fear and grief. God’s will isn’t always pleasant or easy. When God calls you to do something difficult or to suffer something for His name, will you be ready to say, “The Lord’s will be done”?

Chip

This 28 part blog will post each Tuesday through Friday from April 1 through May 16. We'll post on one chapter of Acts each day. Be sure to join us in reading this entire book. We'll learn about Jesus, about his disciples, and about how we can become more fully devoted followers of Christ.