Acts 22:22-30 | in God's Handsনমুনা

In Our Hands, but Out of Our Hands

Paul is in Jerusalem, and his presence there is causing a violent uproar among those zealous for the ways of Moses. People come running. They want to lynch Paul, and start beating him. The Romans have to rescue him from being torn apart. The crowd’s reaction shows just how deeply rooted hostility can be.

Paul’s doing what he can. “Let me talk to them!” he says. “Let me try to calm them down!” The Romans let Paul speak to the mob, which he did in Aramaic, the mob’s native language. It seems to be working. The people are thrown off guard. They’re listening. Is it possible that Paul can diffuse this whole thing?

There are many times in life when things seem to stand on a razor’s edge. A brief moment when it looks like it will all work out. But one small misstep. One little trigger word. One bad apple. One misconstrued intention. And the whole thing comes crashing down.

Here were the fateful words that brought the whole situation crashing down. Paul shared with them what Jesus told him: “Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me….Go, I will send you far away to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:18,21, NIV).

That did it. Acts tells us, “The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, ‘Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!’” (Acts 22:22, NIV)

The mob is back in an uproar, throwing off their cloaks and kicking dust up into the air.

Could Paul have done things differently? Maybe. Would it have changed the outcome? Maybe. Maybe not. Paul was not omniscient. He did what he could. He tried to respond. Paul knew the crowd might turn on him, but while he had their attention, he shared his testimony. He didn’t wait for the “perfect” moment—he used the moment he had. Sometimes we do our best, but things are just outside of our hands.

Yet, Paul was not outside of God’s plan. Jesus had already said this would happen (Acts 9:15-16). Even when people reject our best efforts, God still has us. God won’t abandon you in times like these. Jesus is stronger than a mob.

Questions:

When is a time you did your best in a tough situation, and things went south? How did God work through that in the moment, or even in retrospect?