I will trust You!

Wednesday 2-18-15 (Home) 

Scripture reading:     Num 3-4                Acts 25

S.  Acts 25:10-12 But Paul replied, "No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well I am not guilty. If I have done something worthy of death, I don't refuse to die. But if I am innocent, neither you nor anyone else has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!" Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, "Very well! You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you shall go!" NLT

O.  The Apostle Paul had had it with these wishy-washy Roman authorities.  They were convinced of his innocence, but wanted to pacify this group of Jewish leaders.  Just like Pilate at Jesus’ trial, they didn’t seem as concerned about justice as they were about keeping these persistent Jewish leaders at bay.  For these Roman Governors it was a game of politics protecting their own interests. So with his case undecided Paul wastes away in a dungeon for over two years in Caesarea. 

First it was the Commander Claudius Lysias, who sent him off to Felix the governor, then Felix passes him on to his successor Festus and now Festus is trying to pass him back into the hands of these Jews who are intent upon killing him.  Paul, seeing that this was going nowhere, appeals to the highest authority in the world at that time, Caesar himself.

A.  So many of God’s choice servants have spent endless days in a prison cell like Joseph, or being pursued by a deadly enemy like David, or left waste deep in a filthy mud hole like Jeremiah or a den of vicious hungry lions like Daniel.  Have you ever been there?  Your situation seems never to be resolved.  Hope is raised and crushed once again.  Will our merciful God never hear and answer our cries? 

Yes, God is merciful and many times responds to our pleas with miraculous deliverance, yet we know He allowed many to die.  I do not attempt to explain it.  I love God.  He has been my deliverer many more times than I could count. Yet the book of Hebrews lists many of God’s most faithful servants that suffered horrors.  Some were stoned, others sawed in two, destitute, persecuted and mistreated.  The world was not worthy of them.  What can we make of this?  How does this play out with those of us who hope to “name it and claim it”?

P.  Lord, I don’t understand all Your ways, yet I have made up my mind.  I will trust You!  I have no other refuge.  I have no other Savior.  I have no other protector.  I know Your heavenly armies can blind the eyes of the enemy.   Yours is the power and the glory forever.  I rest in Your hands.

And without hesitation, I can identify at least two occasions when I felt that You had let me down, but later looking back I can see that You were actually rescuing me from tragedy.

We will understand it better some day.  And then, when I stand before You, my Creator, and my Lover… my eyes will behold My Savior and my God and know that You were always present and You knew what was best for me.  You are not just equal to the task.  You are always more than enough!  Amen.

Ralph