Strength in Weakness

Reflections for this date are based on the following scripture passages:
Acts 16	Acts 17	Acts 18	Genesis 31	Genesis 32	Psalms 13

What are we to make of it when we do what is right and it only leads to trouble? When we serve God and are mistreated and abused as a result? We are so inclined to think that serving God and doing the right thing leads only to blessing, that it messes with our mind when we encounter trouble instead. In fact, we often use the blessings as a gauge for whether or not we are doing God's will. Don't we say things like, "This effort has gone so well it must be the Lord's will." Or we say, "Nothing has gone right with this, it must not be the Lord's will."

When the Apostle Paul was in Philippi he went about telling the good news of Jesus. After a while a girl "who had a spirit of prediction and made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling." began to follow him around constantly saying, "These men are the slaves of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation." It became an aggravation to Paul and finally he commanded the spirit to leave the girl, rendering her unable to make her predictions and therefore unable to make a profit for her owners. The owners stirred up the people of Philippi and as a result, Paul and his companion, Silas, were thrown in jail. What should Paul have concluded from this?

Of course, this was not the only time Paul encountered trouble from serving the Lord. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11 Paul gave an accounting of his troubles on behalf of Christ, "Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the depths of the sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers; labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing. Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my care for all the churches." (2 Cor 11:24-28)

Had Paul been guided by the prevailing thought of our day he would surely have concluded that God was not in his efforts and he needed to do something else. But Paul didn't get it. While cooling his heals in prison, he and Silas openly prayed and sang hymns to God. Then something amazing happened, "there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains came loose." Paul and Silas didn't use this as an opportunity to escape, though. Instead they stayed around and led the jailer and his whole household to accept Christ.

While we are also inclined to think it was different for Paul than it is for us, a lesson we may need to learn is that in the midst of trouble is when God does His greatest work. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians, "because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (V. 10)