greater purposes

We cannot afford to look at life by sight.
In Acts 16:16-24 there was a group of people who started
loosing money, because of Paul’s preaching.
The demon that was feeding them lost his power.
They reacted by false accusations, claiming that Paul was
trying to change their well respected culture by teaching
people traditions that they were not allowed to follow.
They disguised their anger of financial loss with a cultural
and theological vocabulary. I’m sure they didn’t care what
people believed or did not believe as long as they had their
flow of money unhindered.
Paul and Silas were put into prison and they continued
ministering. Circumstances seemed to have very little
power over their call to preach the Gospel. It didn’t really
matter where they were, they were available to God.
The earthquake first seemed like God’s miracle for the
purpose of setting them free from the prison.
If this was the case they would have escaped fast and ran for
for their life. They didn’t go. There turned out to be another
reason for this earthquake, the Philippian jailer and his
family. He fell trebling before Paul and Silas and asked
them, “What must I do to be saved?”
What was he asking?
It looks like he asked for a much smaller salvation than
what Peter and Silas were thinking about. He was asking
for a way out from his trouble. Paul responded by showing
him the way of a great salvation.
This continues today. People come with their small needs
just to find out that their problem is far more serious.
Praise God that our answer is bigger than all the questions that
man can ever come up with.