Trusting in God's Plan

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Trusting in God’s Plan.

Act 16:22-40

“And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their woods, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.”

                  In Acts 12, we find the remarkable story of Peter’s arrest and deliverance.  After Peter was arrested for preaching the gospel, he was put into prison with four squads of soldiers to guard him.  However, in the middle of the night, an Angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, Peter’s chains fell off, and the prison doors were opened. Peter freely walked out of prison to continue preaching the gospel.

                  In Acts 16, Paul is confronted with a very similar circumstance.  Like Peter, Paul was also arrested for preaching the gospel and cast into prison.   Just as the chains fell off and the doors to the prison were open for Peter, the same thing happened to Paul.  Both Peter and Paul were arrested for preaching the gospel.  Both were placed in chains to ensure that they would not escape. Both miraculously were set free when God removed the chains and opened the prison doors.  Based on Peter’s experience, one would expect Paul also to recognize God’s deliverance and to walk out of the prison. However, surprisingly, instead of walking out of prison, Paul and Silas remain in their cell.  During this event, Paul had been surprisingly submissive to God's actions.  When arrested, instead of informing the arresting officers that he was a Roman Citizen, which prohibited him from being beaten.  Paul was aware of this, and on another occasion (chapter 22), Paul appealed to his citizenship to avoid being beaten. Yet, he remained silent until the next day when, in verse 37, he informs the chief magistrates that they had beaten a Roman citizen, and it caused them great fear.   All this leads us to an important question, “Why did Paul remain silent and why had he stayed in the prison when he was miraculously allowed to leave?” To remain in the jail brought uncertainty for the future.  In verses 29-32, we discover the answer.  Under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, Paul waited because God was not orchestrating the events to enable Paul to be free from the imprisonment of Rome.  God was orchestrating all the events to free the jailer from his imprisonment for sin.  The story is not about how Paul was miraculously delivered.  The story is about how the Jailer was miraculously delivered. 

                  The story's lesson is that there are times when God allows adversity and uncertainty into our lives because He has a bigger goal to achieve than just our protection from adversity.  Sometimes, God will enable us to experience adversity because God plans to reach others with the hope of the gospel through us. Trusting in God’s plans is easy when it is clear, and the outcome is positive.  Yet there are times when God places us in a position to wait and trust Him.  Rather than uncertainty being the realm where God has forsaken us, it is the place that God has put us in so that we might accomplish something more than we ever imagined. Paul could rest in the uncertainty of remaining in the damp prison cell because he was fully confident in the certainty of God’s plan.  Instead of being discouraged and disheartened, he could rejoice and sing songs of praise (verse 25), knowing that God’s sovereign plan is still being accomplished even when we do not fully understand the plan. 

 Instead of fretting and worrying about the events that might happen when God places you in circumstances where life becomes uncertain; sit back, relax, and wait for God to work according to His timing and plan.  When you do, you will discover that God has the circumstances within His control and uses us to accomplish His purpose.  Sometimes, doing God’s will requires us to do nothing but rest in His plan. 

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