Trust and Obey

Last week we discussed the concept of covenant and how we are in a covenant relationship with the Lord. In that covenant relationship, God has promised to uphold his end of the covenant, but we must be careful to uphold ours. As a saved, but still imperfect people, we will violate the covenant from time to time, but we saw in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that he promises to hear from heaven and forgive the sin of those who come to him in repentance.

Today we travel over to the book of Acts and we join Paul and his companions as he begins his second missionary journey. You will recall that the letters to the seven churches in Revelation were written to cities on the eastern end of what is now modern-day Turkey. When Paul went on his first missionary journey, he visited places toward the western end of what was one called Asia Minor, and now Turkey. He intended to push further east, but the only question was where.

As we track Paul and his team through the opening of chapter 16, we see something rather peculiar. So if you have your Bible, turn with me to Acts 16, starting in verse six.

Acts 16:6–10 NASB95

They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So here we have Paul and his team trying to take the gospel to new places, but the Lord prohibits them and then reveals to Paul in a vision that he is supposed to go to Macedonia. As we unravel what is going on in these verses, it will help us to remember that:

Our plans, no matter how well intentioned they may be, may not be God’s plans.

As we look at these verses, we see that twice Paul and his companions sought to go to a certain place only to be prohibited by the Holy Spirit from doing so. But let’s first recognize that Paul and his companions were not doing anything self serving. They weren’t going to try and make money. They weren’t trying to go there to gain power. They were not going there to trick the people out of their life savings or anything devious.

Their reason for going to these places were to share the gospel. They wanted to see people saved, but the Lord said no. We should also notice that because the Lord said no does not mean that the Lord did not want the gospel to go to those places. He just had different plans for Paul and his crew.

Have you ever been so sure that you were supposed to go in one direction only to discover God had other plans? “I was so sure I was supposed to go and do this!” And then you either went and did that and found out that wasn’t God’s plan, or God prevented you from doing that in the first place. Whatever we set out to do, even in God’s name, may not be His will for us. When that happens, it can leave us in a place of bewilderment as we try to figure out what God really wants from us. So the next step seems unclear.

When the way forward is unclear, trust the Holy Spirit to steer you in the right direction.

We can imagine that as passionate as Paul was, he probably felt some level of frustration when he tried to go into these areas to share the gospel only to be blocked by the Holy Spirit. But it is not as if Paul and his crew were just wandering from place to place trying to figure out where the Lord wanted them to go. Paul is the leader, but he is probably not making these decisions unilaterally. He is probably consulting his team. They try going to Asia and the Lord says no. So they respond with, “Well, that’s not it so let’s try Bithynia.” They head toward Bithynia and the Lord says no. “Well that’s not it either. So now what?”

So Paul presumably goes to sleep and receives this vision from the Lord of a Macedonian man pleading to Paul to come and help them. When Paul sees the vision, he concludes that this was the Lord’s way of telling him where he was supposed to go. They get up and set out for Macedonia.

So after trying to figure out where to go next, God finally reveals it to them, and Paul obeys. Wouldn’t it have been easier to start with that? Couldn’t the Holy Spirit have just started with, “Hey Paul. I want you to go to Macedonia.” That would have been way easier.

Don’t you wish you could wake up every morning and have the Lord tell you exactly what you were supposed to do that day? I think it would be nice to wake up to an email from God saying, “Dear Jesse, good job waking up on time today. From 9-11 AM, you need to get these things done in the office.” An then I would see the list of things. “But at 11:05 AM, a silver F150 with the license plate number JVS7808 is going to pull up to gas pump #3 at the Valero gas station in town. A man is going to get out and begin pumping gas. I need you to go to him and share your faith with him. It will take 6 minutes and when you ask him if he wants Jesus to be his lord and savior, he is going to say yes. You will pray with him and he will join the church Sunday. Then I need you to go over to Patty Reagan’s house. She has a new rock project she is working on. She needs an extra set of hands. Then as you return to the office, turn your computer on and work on the sermon for next week. By then you will be ready for some inspiration. Write down what I show you. Then call so-and-so and ask them over for dinner.” Wouldn’t that be nice? But that’s not what God does.

If God wanted Paul to go to Macedonia, why didn’t he just tell him sooner? There is something about the joy of discovery that God uses as we journey with him in life. He could give us the entire road map if he wanted to, but that would also seem to diminish our need to trust him. There is also a need for us to choose in the process. In his grand plan, he has included our personal choice. Sometimes he does give us the answer we need and sometimes he withholds it until the proper time. Every time we want to make a move but don’t know what move tom make, God calls us to make a choice. Sometimes the choice is not between something good or something bad. Sometimes the choice is between good, better, or best and it is hard to figure out which one.

I can remember when I was trying to figure out if I should ask Marci out on a date. Maybe I should. Maybe I shouldn’t. So what did I do? I asked the Lord. How did he respond? Silence. But maybe it wasn’t really silence, but as if he sat back and whistled like, “I don’t know. What are you going to do?” I made a choice and then I followed where God was leading.

We as a church are in a similar situation. A transition in leadership and a transition in our approach to ministry has been made. We are on our way to discovering who we are and who God wants us to be and how we will go about reaching people for the gospel of Jesus. It would be great if God told us exactly what we needed to do, but he doesn’t. But as we make decisions and do some things right and others wrong, we will be on our way to discovering the open door God has for us.

Henry Blackaby, author of the popular book, Experiencing God, is known for saying, “Find out where God is at work and Join him there.”

Where is God at work in your life?

Where is God at work in Three Rivers?

Where is God at work in this church?

Will you join him?