You Can’t Be Everywhere, But God Can
We often say, “You can’t have it both ways,” meaning you can’t get the benefits of two opposing options. You live in the city, or you live in the country. You have children, or you don’t have children. You eat whatever you want, or you maintain your weight. There are benefits in each option, but you simply can’t have the best of both options at the same time, though we constantly try.
Sometimes our faith journey suddenly reveals a “wide door for effective work that has been opened” (Apostle Paul), but he also stated that this wide door comes with many adversaries. The benefits of effective kingdom work will include interruptions and intrusion because the enemy of God does not want to see God’s kingdom expand. We can’t go through the wide doors of kingdom opportunity and have no interruptions.
But maybe this passage challenges us in another way. What if the many adversaries were part of the reason Paul stayed in Ephesus. He saw that the challenges and the difficulties were in fact his “wide door.” Often, we want to run from, or at least avoid, the challenges that come to us in life and in ministry as Christ followers. But what if our ineffectiveness as believers is because we fail to see the opportunity to be a part of God’s work right in the middle of the challenges?
Paul knew that he couldn’t be two places at the same time. He wanted to be in Corinth to help with the difficulties and challenges that he wrote about in his letter to Corinth, and he wanted to stay in Ephesus to address the adversarial challenges there. His solution was to send Timothy to Corinth, and he would stay in Ephesus.
On one hand, that might seem like a bad idea. Why send a younger and less experienced leader to such a troubled church while Paul stayed back in Ephesus? I think Paul knew that while he couldn’t be in two places at once, the Holy Spirit could be. Sometimes we think we are the only one who understands a problem or can be used by God. Paul knew that the Holy Spirit would go with Timothy and would also be with him as he stayed in Ephesus.
Next time you or I think there is a “wide door of effective work” opening, then it would be wise to walk through it, trusting that the Holy Spirit will work in us and through us. And next time you can’t be in two places at the same time, you can take comfort that the God of all comforts will use another, and the Holy Spirit will be right there with whoever God chooses to use.
Father, open our eyes to see the doors you open every day for us where we can do your kingdom work. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit who is always enough to guide us and others in dealing with the challenges we face as we seek to spread your love far and wide. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
1 Corinthians 16:8-11 ESV
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