The spirit of Jesus would not let them.

 

Monday, August 14, 2023


Psalms 108; 109:20-30

2 Samuel 17:15-18:4

Acts 15:36-16:10


Observance: Twentieth century martyrs


The spirit of Jesus would not let them.


We now end our little excursion into John’s gospel of Jesus, and return to where we left off in Luke’s gospel of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Acts of the Apostles. To bring us back up to speed: Paul has had his conversion moment, he has done his time learning from other Jesus followers the way of the Master, and has begun planting churches. There has been a big meeting in Jerusalem which he had to go and attend, and he is now heading back out into the world to tell everyone that Christians do not need to follow Jewish purity laws: we need to instead follow the spirit of the Law, directed by our love for the Lord Jesus.


And so the next stage of the adventure begins, and we get this curious statement from Luke, with no explanation: when they tried to travel to certain places, the Holy Spirit and then the spirit of Jesus stops them and turn them around to go elsewhere. It is as if the reader (Theophilus) is simply expected to know exactly what it is like for God to direct our travel plans.


One cannot help but think of Job. Job was punished severely by Satan; his life was reduced to absolute misery. Is this what it is like for God to move us into a certain place? Say, for example, one has something exciting coming up in the near future, makes plans in anticipation, and then is struck by a tragedy in the family, throwing all those plans into confusion. Is this the work of God, saying “this is not the way”? Was Paul struck by tragedy when he tried to enter Bithynia, causing Luke to claim that “the spirit of Jesus would not let them”?


God’s way is not to bring sickness, or tragedy, or anything evil at all. God is light; there is no darkness in Him (1 Jn 1:5). If we are discerning our way through life to the best of our ability, we should not look at tragedy and decide that that is God stopping our way. God’s way, rather, is to work through those tragedies for good (Rom 8:28). Remember poor Joseph stuck in the well. If he had not been thrown into the well and sold to proto-Muslim slavers (Gen 37:28), then the circumstances would not have been set for him to end up as Pharaoh in all but name. Therefore, if the spirit of Jesus is not letting us do something in particular, He will communicate that message in a positive way. And any tragedy that strikes will, if we pray, be used by God for our good.

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