Listen to the Spirit

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT

Acts 21:1-6

21:1 After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. 2 We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. 3 After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. 4 Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. 5 But when our time was up, we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. 6 After saying good-by to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.

NIV.

We are back in the midst of another great traveling adventure which presents us with nothing much but a list of cities, yet if all scripture is God breathed we should find something here which serves to help us in our journey with him. What does stand out is the comment “through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem”. We are not told exactly who or which disciples were in Tyre, but they were there with their families. This was on the mainland North of Jerusalem, in fact is it modern day Lebanon. What the disciples were doing there is unclear, but the point is Paul and his companions found them in this city and decided to stay with them for seven days. Earlier we were told Paul was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible by Pentecost, so now he stays here seven days. Was the hurry over or did he figure his schedule would allow this time? Perhaps he was in need of some fellowship, or felt the disciples needed some encouragement. But back to the point of them urging him not to go on, through the Spirit. What does it look like to urge through the Spirit? Was it the Spirit which did not what Paul to go on? He has told those elders of the Church in Ephesus the Spirit was warning him that prison and hardship was waiting for him there, but that the Spirit was compelling him to go. Now we see these disciples through the Spirit urging him to not go. So which is it, was the Spirit conflicted? Do we have conflicting directions from the Spirit? On the surface it might appear so, but in fact it is the same message. The Spirit was once again warning Paul that prison and hardship was waiting for him in Jerusalem. This is the same message he has been telling Paul in every city. In Paul’s case, his life as a believer was not always a bed of roses, in fact he had some really rough times and he was going to have some even more difficult times ahead of him, yet he was compelled by the Spirit. Could this be another life lesson for us? Could we say that although we are led by the Spirit, we could face difficult times? Could we say that being a believer does not necessarily mean we will always have a great life, a blessed which is generally interpreted as one with good health, great income and a host of material goods? Paul certainly lived a blessed life, led by the Spirit, but his life was full  of difficult times. Was that just Paul. Are we different? Did God deal with Paul in a special way and that is not how he deals with us? Yet we could learn that is a possible direction God could led us? We need to at least be open to such a leading of the Spirit. That is not to say the Spirit would lead us exactly as he did Paul, but it is possible. We cannot ever put the Spirit in a box. Each one of us is an individual and the Spirit moves us as he will. It is not our will but his. The Spirit will prompt us as to where and when we should be and had how long. He may prompt us through others in order to verify in our hearts his leading, as he did with Paul through those disciples and in all the other cities, but he was still directly prompting Paul to go to Jerusalem. What we learn is to listen to the Spirit.