Calm

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

CALM

Acts 21:33-40

33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, "Away with him!" 37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, "May I say something to you?" "Do you speak Greek?" he replied. 38 "Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?" 39 Paul answered, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people." 40 Having received the commander's permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic:

NIV

This is a rather detailed account of this day in the life of Paul. It continues with the commander breaking up the riot but without knowing the whole of the situation he takes the victim of the beating and binds him in chains. It would seem only right to have arrested those who were doing the beating rather than the beaten, but this is no ordinary time. The Romans were occupiers and needed to keep the Jews in line. With such an outbreak of violence against one man, this commander had to think Paul was someone extremely irritating to the Jews and by arresting him perhaps the violence would dissipate and the crowd would break up and go home. Now Paul being the man he was surely was ready for this and was able to take command of the situation. Although this is not the end of what happened we might still learn a lesson from this portion of the account. As Angry and violent the crowd was Paul remained calm and kept his wits about him. He could have become as out of control as the crowd seemed to be, shouting back insults, screaming accusations toward them for being stupid for letting a few people inciting this riot. But he kept his cool, his calm demeanor and asked the commander if he might speak to the people. We know this commander was not a Roman by birth and thus may not have been very good at the language of Rome, Latin, so he asked if Paul spoke Greek and upon finding he did, questioned him. Paul continued to be in control of his emotions and was able to accomplish being able address the crowd and when he did he did so in Aramaic. Here is our lesson, to remain calm in the face of any and all opposite. There is no benefit in losing control, losing our temper, getting so upset that we say things we should not, in the heat of the moment. Even when it seems we have no defense, and it appears we are unjustly accused of any action, or words spoken, we should remain calm and in control of our own self. This is a far better way to be an effective witness of the life of a believer. By remaining calm Paul was able to give testimony of Jesus Christ to all those people. He would not have been able to if he had become as angry as they were, fighting insults with insults. The key word, the key thought, the key attitude is calm. Remain calm, if we are to thank God in all circumstances the only way we can do that is to remain calm.