The Plot (Acts 23:30)

 


Tuesday, 2 September 2025


Psalms 5; 6

1 Kings 3:1-15

Acts 23:25-24:9


Observance: Martyrs of New Guinea (d. 1942)


The Plot (Acts 23:30)


“...And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”


There is a Collect in the Book of Common Prayer, for the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity Sunday, which is also set to be prayed during the Daily Office after the confession if no priest is present to pronounce the forgiveness of sins. It asks the Lord to forgive the sins of his people in order that they may “serve thee with a quiet mind”. A “quiet mind” – and maybe also a quiet life it pleases the Lord too, perhaps?


St Paul had anything but a quiet life; when he was bound by Claudius Lysias the Tribune and sent to Felix the governor, I wonder if he was able to maintain a quiet mind? I wonder how we would react, were we in the same position? Not only was he bound by the authorities and shuffled between courts, but he also had a plot against his life. Forty men bound by an oath of fasting to kill him – this was no little thing.


Yet remember how St Paul had one mission in life: to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From that perspective, this might actually be something we should all be a little jealous of! Seriously, just think about it: he wasn’t arrested, found to be innocent, and just chucked back out onto the streets. He kept going and up and up the food chain, finding more and more influential people to tell about Jesus. Forget the plot on his life: what about the plot to preach life to the world?


What troubles are you facing right now? Might it be an opportunity from God to shine the light of his Son into a dark place?


God of providential protection over those you love: give us the perspective of eternity, to see why you put us in the situations and circumstances that you do.

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