Friday 3 Jun 2022

June 3: Acts 25:13-21

Key Verse: Acts 25:21
But when Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.’

Devotion:
When you are asked to do something, how do you go about starting? Do you try to find the easiest way forward, or the hardest way forward so you will not have to end up doing it? Do you maybe try to find someone else to do the work for you? When we get asked to do things in our everyday lives, we often find ways we can change the way we do the work to either make it easier or to get someone else to do the work for us… It seems to be in our nature to do these things!

Paul was caught in between a rock and a hard place (and English saying) meaning if he chose one way he would have to face the Pharisees and Sadducees again, or he would have to face the Roman law which was know to be quite harsh at times. Paul appealed to Festus to see if he could get his case heard by Caesar! Talk about aiming high!

We may think this was a bit much, but when God asks you to do something, you should be willing to go all the way to try and achieve the goal set before you. This may take you way out of your comfort zone – we do like to stick to what we know and to what we think we can achieve… Let us not forget God knows us better than we do. He knows what we are capable of because He is not blinkered by our fears and worries…

Festus was the man in charge; and yet he chose to bring this before King Agrippa because he was not confident he would do the right thing. This is quite normal for us human beings! We do doubt ourselves and we do like to consult others if we think we are not up to the task… we should be consulting God and listening to the Holy Spirit at times like this!

Points to Ponder:
Who do you go to for advice?

Will you ask and listen to the Holy Spirit for some advice today?