Sunday 8th December
Read Psalm 86
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
This Psalm starts, “Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.” When we turn to God in prayer are these words not close to our heart and spirit? No-on comes to God in prayer with boastful arrogance. David prays because he needs help because arrogant and ruthless people were trying to get rid of him (V14). He knows that he is a sinner, but that God is forgiving, good, and abounding in love to all who call upon him (v5) and so he asks for help. The only place in scripture where David’s mother is mentioned is in v16 where he prays, “save me, because I serve you just as my mother did”. What a quiet insertion about his mother and what a great benefit it is to have godly and faithful mother and parents, even ancestors, who have set their hearts on obedience to the Lord. Not that it takes away from our responsibility to serve the Lord but it gives us encouragement to pray the same for our children. He closes with “give me a sign of your goodness” (v17), have you ever asked for that, why not do it now?
READINGS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
As you read the Bible Stop; Read; Ponder; and Pray.
Monday Acts 21:27-36
It so happened that there were some Jews from the province of Asia (more or less modern Turkey) in Jerusalem at this time and with Paul being around the Temple he was spotted by some of them who raised a commotion about him saying that he had taught everyone against “our people, our law and this place”, on top of which they said he had taken Greeks into the Temple which was forbidden. The latter was based on a guess that Trophimus, who came from Ephesus, was a Gentile. All that they imputed was wrong but when you can rouse a rabble, the truth doesn’t count.
It is always important for believers never to jump on bandwagons but always to look into the background of things that are said especially when they are targeted at particular things, arguments or people. The people of Berea, where Paul visited after being in Thessalonica, gave a good example when, confronted with Paul’s teaching, “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true”.
The riot in Jerusalem and Pauls beating only stopped when the Roman commander and his soldiers arrived outside the Temple and who arrested Paul headed for the Barracks because of the hopelessness of hearing what the crowd was saying.
Tuesday Acts 21:37- 22:5
As Paul was being led away to the Roman Barracks he managed to speak to the commander which he did in Greek to the slight astonishment of the commander who thought he was an Egyptian terrorist who had started a revolt leading four thousand out into the wilderness some time ago. Such revolts were not uncommon and were one of the reason for Roman garrisons to be set up to keep things quiet.
When Paul told him where he came from and that he was “a citizen of no ordinary citizen” which meant he held Roman citizenship, the commander wanted to mind his ‘Ps & Qs’ because he didn’t want to get on the wrong side of Rome. Paul asked if he could speak to the people who had been demanding that he be got rid of. Being given permfuission to do this, and when the crowd were quietened, he began his defence, speaking in Aramaic, the language the people understood. He started by relating his history, where he was born and where he studied under the foremost Rabbi of the time, Gamaliel. He was well trained in the law and as zealous for God as the crowd were, persecuting the Christian believers and obtaining letters from the High Priest to go to Damascus and bring any believers he found there in chains to Jerusalem to be punished. He could hardly have aligned himself more with his persecutors, but he was about to say what happened to him on the way to Damascus that would change his whole future.
Paul relates the story of his conversion which detailed the bright light and voice challenging him about his persecution. On asking who he was persecuting he heard, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting” (v8). Did the crowd who had bayed for his blood realise who it was they were persecuting? People need to ask when they are strong in their force against something who it is they are pushing against for if it is God himself then they need to stop and listen. Paul asked what he was to do and the answer was to go ahead into Damascus and there he would be told of the further plans laid out for him.
He then told them of Ananias who was devout and respected by all the Jews living in Damascus who came to see him and with a message which would bring his healing and sure enough his sight was restored which he had lost since the meeting on the road to Damascus. He then told the crowd that when he returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the Temple that he had fallen into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to him telling him to get out of Jerusalem. Although he thought his testimony amongst the Jews in Jerusalem would surely be powerful the Lord told him it wouldn’t and he was going to be sent far away to the Gentiles.
Well, the same thing happened this time in Jerusalem, the crowd did not want to hear him and just wanted rid of him. The modern Western idea that anything that is good and true must surely be welcomed and accepted by the general populace is untrue; there is a real maleficence against God which we need to understand and it may shock u when we see it.
Thursday Acts 22:23-30
There are some parts of the Bible, whether intentionally or not, give us a glimpse into the eye witness nature of the narrative and surely v23 is one. Who but an eye witness would mention that in their annoyance the crowd were “shouting, throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust in the air”? Because of the disturbance the commander ordered Paul to be taken into the Barracks and interrogated under flogging to get to the bottom of things. Only when he was about to be flogged and when the centurion given the task was asked by Paul if it was legal for him, a Roman Citizen, to be flogged was the procedure stopped. It was certainly illegal for a Citizen to be flogged and the centurion and the commander could have been in serious trouble if this had gone ahead.
How Paul was a Roman citizen could have come from where he was born – Tarsus in the Roman province of Cilicia – where being born in a Roman province gave natural citizenship but however he was a citizen it was a serious matter for the commander to attend to and so he released Paul but summoned the Jewish Sanhedrin, the Council, to meet him (https://www.romae-vitam.com/roman-citizenship.html). He released Paul but summoned the Jewish Sanhedrin to meet him to hear the charges against Paul the next day. Paul’s social status was actually going to give him the opportunity to go to Rome as we shall see in due course. Sometimes a Christian’s position in society can give them opportunities to further the gospel which they wouldn’t have had otherwise, Wilberforce being a good example in in our own country.
Friday Acts 23:1-11
In this chapter Paul begins his defence not against the crowd but before the Jewish Sanhedrin which was the legislative and judicial council of the Jews. As he began saying that he had fulfilled his duty to God in all good conscience, Ananias the High Priest ordered that he be slapped producing a rejoinder from Paul calling him a hypocrite because he was supposedly sitting as a judge over Paul yet, contrary to the law, had not given Paul the right of reply against his accusers.
When he found out who he was speaking to he apologised because he knew that the law said he should not speak ill of a ruler ( Exodus 22:28). He then spoke tactically knowing that both Sadducees and Pharisees were on the Council, referring to his own Pharisaic background and saying that his trial was on account of his belief in the resurrection of the dead which the Pharisees as well as Christians held to. The storm of disagreement within the Council blew up to such a degree that the commander of the troops was forced to remove him and bring him into the barracks for safety and the following night the Lord spoke to Paul encouraging him and telling him that he would be testifying in Rome. Sometimes opposition can lead to more positive thangs than we can imagination.
Saturday Acts 23:12-35
The severity of the hatred against Paul and against the word of God is seen in v12,13 when we find out that 40 men formed a conspiracy together such that they bound themselves on oath not to eat or drink until they had murdered Paul. They went to the chief priests to get them to go to the commander to bring him out of the security of the barracks for another appearance before the Council and if that happened they would do the deed.
Word leaked out to Paul’s young nephew who went into the barracks and let the commander know who decided to move him out of Jerusalem to Ceasar’s Governor in Caesarea. It shows, if we needed it, that God knows how to deliver his servants out of trouble. The life of David in the Old Testament shows us many instances where he was in danger and God delivered him; read 2 Samuel 22 in its entirety to rejoice in God’s protection of his people. We may find ourselves in many different kinds of danger – not necessarily dangers of physical harm – that could make us worry, that’s when we need to call to mind what Peter says in 2 Peter 2:9 that “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished:”
