Friday, July 31, 2009

Acts 22 recounts how God chose Paul and called him to be a witness to all men. I can't imagine what Paul must have been thinking when the Lord said to him so plainly to "Get up.. I'm going to tell you all that you have been assigned to do". Paul was told next, "the God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Lord and to hear words from his mouth. You will be a witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. What are you waiting for?" When Paul was praying at the temple, he fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking. "Quick", he said to Paul. "Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me". God was sending Paul away to the Gentiles. Paul didn't seem to understand and thought he was best qualified to be used to preach to the Jews instead. God didn't discuss it, but simply said "Go". Do we ever find ourselves thinking that we know what we should be doing, rather than what God is calling us to do? Our "qualifications" are not needed by God. In fact, maybe Paul's story is yet another example of how God's power works best in our weakness. We need to stop limiting ourselves to what we believe we are "qualified" to do for God, and fully trust in Him to gracefully provide sufficient strength and gifts we need to exercise His will. In other words, we need to stop making excuses and just obey and "Go".