Dear Student of the Word,
It's only been a week since your last study, but I thought I would send along the next installment of the Acts study for you to review. In this part, Paul is taken to Caesarea where he is interrogated by the Roman authorities concerning charges brought against Paul by the Jews. This week I wrote in part six of this seven-part study:
Study Twenty-Nine, Part Six
31 So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. 33 When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. 34 The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers get here." Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod's palace.
23:31&32 – When the contingent saw that there was no attack or danger, they dismissed the foot soldiers. Only the cavalry went on to Caesarea. Caesarea is a beautiful seaside town, a port that was the gateway to the Mediterranean from Palestine. Paul was to spend a few years at this site, awaiting the decision of Rome concerning his alleged crimes. We don’t have much information about how he spent his time, but it must have been hard for this traveling evangelist and apostle to stay in one place that long and not be doing something.
How do you handle “down time?” A period like this can be very useful to help you refocus and develop new things and initiatives in your life and development. But a down time can be hard since you may have become so addicted to activity. If you aren’t in a down time now, you may be one day. When that happens, don’t be in a hurry to bring it to an end. Use that time wisely and see it as a season of life that is as important as the productive, busy times.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
What time is it for you? What is the main emphasis of this season in your life?
23:33-35 – Paul was now in the hands of the Roman government, fulfilling the word that God gave him on the Damascus. He would testify before kings and rulers and would end up in the Roman capital to bear witness to Jesus’ name. You don’t ever have to work to fulfill your purpose for it usually comes to you. In this case, the Romans were fulfilling God’s plan for Paul’s life and they did not even know He was using them to do so.
Can you relax and trust God to help you fulfill His plan for your life? Do you see in his case how in control God was? Can you believe He is the same for you?
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the unpublished volume of The Faith Files.
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