Loading... Acts 23:35 - KEPT IN HEROD’S JUDGMENT HALL
Acts 23:35 I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s judgment hall.
Paul was just whisked away from Jerusalem and is now in front of Felix. Paul was in Jerusalem because God had instructed him to go and preach in Jerusalem. Paul recently had been told by God that just as he had preached in Jerusalem, so also would he preach in Rome. Paul direction was to go and preach in Jerusalem but Paul found himself a prisoner.
As much as Paul desired to be doing the perfect will of God, Paul understood that there were some things that were simply beyond his control. Paul understood that he had a duty to obey his civil authorities. As such, it was not an option for him to try to come up with some creative way to escape so that he could obey God by preaching in Rome. God had directed Paul’s steps and now Paul had to simply wait on the Lord to bring to pass that which HE had promised Paul.
God had shown Paul that he was going to preach in Rome, but what God did not show Paul was the things that were going to happen between when God had instructed him to preach in Rome and when Paul actually reached Rome. God spoke to Paul and showed him what was going to happen so that Paul could rely upon the promises of God when the storms arose in his life. Paul understood that God does not lie and that what God promised him, so God must bring to pass.
We do not always know why God does what HE does. We must understand that God has a purpose for everything. Just as Paul found himself waiting for the perfect will of God to be fulfilled in his life, so also we need to be patient with God and allow HIM to direct all of our steps.
Paul desired to preach the gospel but he found himself a prisoner in the house of Felix. It was told Felix that Paul was innocent, yet Paul was not free to go where he wanted when he wanted. Most of us would look at what was going on in the life of Paul something that was completely unfair. However, God had a purpose for this trial that Paul faced and we must understand that God never promised us that life would be fair.
When life is unfair, we need to turn to God and we need to ask him to give us the grace to patiently wait for God to fulfill HIS promises in our life. We need to stop looking at our circumstances and instead, turn our eyes upon God and ask him to open our eyes to show us what HE desires us to do today.
God has a purpose for our life today. Are you seeking the Lord and trying to discover what HE desires you to do today. Most of us are looking into the future and because our focus is not where God has us today, we fail to serve HIM as HE desires. How many wasted opportunities have we missed because we are more concerned about serving God in something big in the future that we fail to serve him in something small today?
It is much easier to dream about tomorrow then to focus upon what God desires you to do today. It does not matter what great promises God has given us about tomorrow, we cannot let tomorrow get in the way of today. We need to be patient about tomorrow and every day ask God to show us what HE desires us to do for HIM today. Are we HIS faithful servants? Maybe the reasons HE does not bring to pass the fulfillment of our visions is because we have not yet finished serving HIM where HE has placed us today.