Today’s Reading : II Samuel 13-14, Acts 28
We have all done it. We have made an assumption about someone or something on the first appearance. This is how human nature works. We are given evidence and ideas from our previous encounters with others and we make a generalized guess of something new. From this introduction we can make a better informed decision from our interactions with that person to create a more informed decision of that person. Many people could say this is the “judging a book upon its cover” with first impressions.
In our passages today, we have two individuals who on the surface can be seen in through the lenses of the author completely differently, Absalom and Paul . After reading these passages several times, I see we have to dig deeper beneath the surface to see some of the aspects of each of these individuals.
In the final chapter of Acts, we are seeing the last interactions that are recorded for Paul aside from his letters to the church. In this chapter and the previous chapters of Acts, we see a full conversion and transformation of Paul. We see him from the chief prosecutor and executioner of the earlier Christian to become the leading figure for the spread of Christianity throughout the world. In this particular chapter, we witness an additional revelation as we dive deeper than the surface with the shipwreck and the other adventures.
“When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.”
The people of the island did not know Paul. They assumed that he was an evil man, but then they believed he was a “god”. After a little while, the people actually were able to see who he was and Whose he was. He manifests the Spirit and God allows him to witness unreachable people with unforeseen circumstances. This interaction can be the reason people in this particular isolated island received the gospel. Can you imagine the countless stories and miracles that happened because of the shipwreck? Sometimes the hardest things that we experience can be a window into how God is going to use you in the situation.
How many times have we been in terrible situations and circumstances that we can’t imagine we are going to get out of, then God shows up and delivers us to something better? Now ask yourself, how did God use that situation to bring others to him? How has your relationship with Him created a safe space for others to see the goodness in the midst of adversity and allow you to invite them into His presence?
A couple days ago, I was listening to one of TD Jakes’s sermons, the Threshing Floor. In portion of this sermon. He is speaking about the alabaster box. He speaks about how the alabaster can shield the essence of anything that’s in it. He compares us to the alabaster box. Some of the things that God has in store for us even people that are close to us cannot understand it until God is ready for us to open it. Just as the natives did not know about Paul’s true essence, how many people that we know do not know our true essence? How many of us do not know our true essence? What do we have to do or go through for God to show us our true essence? When we make this decision to see what beneath the surface, we have to rely on God to be in charge of everything, the highs and the lows.
Be blessed