Following God When the Map Changes
Sometimes things don’t work according to your plans. I was talking to a friend a few days ago who told me they just knew God had led them to do a certain thing. My friend was obedient and executed his plan according to what he understood God had led him to do. For a few months it looked like his leading was correct. Until it wasn’t. As we talked about his plan, he offered a wonderful perspective: “Maybe God was directing me, but for his reasons, he has another way to accomplish the plan. And I am willing to follow the steps God provides, whatever they are.”
We have all been there, haven’t we? Just sure something was meant to be—maybe even divinely inspired—and then suddenly, there are head winds, challenges, and maybe even failure. Did we hear God correctly? Maybe. Did God want us to start and have someone else finish? Maybe. Did Satan interfere? Maybe. We know that Satan always wants to disrupt kingdom people who are faithfully extending God’s territory.
In Acts 8 we find some things that surprised the apostles. Things were not going as planned and yet were advancing God’s kingdom in extraordinary ways. In chapter six, the 12 apostles had selected seven men to fix a problem concerning widows who were not being taken care of as they should. By adding these seven to the workforce, it freed up the apostles to focus on preaching the gospel. And maybe to the surprise of the apostles some who were chosen in one role were actually quite good in another.
Stephen was one who did an excellent job of teaching how Jesus was the Messiah of God and many of the Jewish faith were accepting his message. This stirred up the religious leaders, and they ultimately put an end to Stephen’s ministry by stoning him to death. I am sure the apostles didn’t have that in the plan. They also didn’t have in the plan that the persecution of the Christians would cause the group of believers to disperse to other places. The result of which was that the kingdom of God grew even faster!
The apostles also never imagined that the ringleader of the persecution, Saul, would be converted to Christianity and that God would use him to establish churches on multiple missionary journeys. I suspect that if we could talk to the apostles and the early church leaders, we would hear story after story about how God led them to do something and then the plan shifted, and something even better happened. I suspect we need to expect that there will be detours and even opposition that results in us getting to watch God do something bigger than we first imagined.
One other lesson in chapter eight: God knows the hearts and minds of his children. He knows when our faith is real and when we might simply want to be near the faith so that we can make a profit or gain some sort of power.
There was a man named Simon who practiced magic. Probably not card tricks or pulling rabbits from hats but rather a darker magic. When Simon saw the apostles performing miracles in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit, he wanted some of that power. Simon believed the good news of Jesus. Having someone pay the penalty for your sins is good news and worth believing.
Simon also saw the apostles laying hands on believers so that they might receive the Holy Spirit. And that triggered a thought. I suspect that Simon might have thought he would be seen with greater status and probably make more money doing bigger miracles than he did with his lessor magic.
Peter sensed Simon’s heart and shut it down quickly:
“But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.”
For a fisherman, that is a pretty strong message! And based on Simon’s response, the message was received:
“And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”
Maybe Simon was afraid. Maybe it convicted him to repent. We don’t know how all of that turned out in Simon’s life, but we did learn that God’s plan is never about pride, positional power, or profit. God’s work can only be done through humble hearts who daily surrender to God’s leading. And as I said earlier, even when we follow God’s leading, we shouldn’t be surprised how it just might orchestrate our steps to do more than we can hope or imagine.
Father, thank you for gift of the Holy Spirit that is ours in Christ. Today we ask you to guide our steps, that we might serve you wherever and however you want us to work in your kingdom. We trust you and cannot wait to see how you will use as today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Acts 8:1-24 ESV
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