Dwelling in God

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

DWELLING IN GOD

Acts 23:16-24

16 But when the son of Paul's sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him." 18 So he took him to the commander. The centurion said, "Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you." 19 The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, "What is it you want to tell me?" 20 He said: "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. 21 Don't give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request." 22 The commander dismissed the young man and cautioned him, "Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me." 23 Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, "Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide mounts for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix."

NIV

This is the first time we remember anything said about the family of Paul. We do not know anything about his sister, or Paul’s nephew, but here they are involved, concerned about the well-being of their brother and uncle. Although Luke only tells us that the son of Paul’s sister came to the barracks with news of the plot. Again, we are not told how he discovered the news of this conspiracy to lay in wait to ambush Paul while being transported to Governor Felix. What is interesting is how this commander reacted to this news. First, he does not want the Jews to know of his knowledge of their scheme. He does whatever is necessary to protect the life of Paul while he is under his protection. This is a whole lot of roman soldiers that the commander puts together to escort Paul under the cover of night, which would be far ahead of the Jews setting up their ambush in the morning. This gives us an example of how God puts us under his protection. Could it be possible that we have a legend of angels guarding our path to heaven, to see our Lord Jesus? We know there are believers in many of the places of the world that have been killed because of their faith, and they have been tortured in the most hideous ways. Yet were they not also ushered into the presence of Jesus, even perhaps by a detachment of angels? We would have to include the entire psalm 91 to give a complete view of the hand of God at work. However, in short, he will command his angels concerning us, to guard us in all our ways. If we make the Most High our dwelling place, even the Lord, who is our refuge, then no harm will befall us. If we make the Lord our habitation, our abode, our temple, our retreat, or asylum, is the key to all of this protection. We cannot simply live a normal human life, going about what other humans do or live. We have been transformed into a new human, one who dwells in the Most High. No mere human can make his dwelling in the Most High God unless he first dwells in the Lord Jesus. He is our refuge, our Savior, our very life. Paul could not make his journey to see Governor Felix on his own, for surely the Jews, his enemies, would lay in ambush and kill him.  If we try to make this journey in life on our own, surely the enemy of our soul would be laying in ambush and find us vulnerable to his plot of killing us. But we do not travel along, we are under the guard of a thousand angels, well, actually all we need is to be dwelling in Jesus, for he is the one who commands all his angels concerning us. It is also interesting it was the son of Paul’s sister who revealed the plot. It is also the Son of God who reveals the plot of our enemy.  Let us never leave the dwelling place of God.