Return to Jerusalem

"For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?" (Romans 11:34)

Have you ever had the nagging feeling that perhaps somewhere you misunderstood God's will and made a choice that forever altered the life you could have had? If only I had studied at _________ University (or in my case, gone to university period), I could be _________. Or if only I tried _________, I could be _________. Or if only I had _________, I could be married...

I confess that I have occasionally wondered where the life I'm living will take me. In ten years, will I be sitting at the same desk, working for the same boss, and doing the same thing while the rest of my family and peers have "moved on with life"?

I found myself asking the same question about Paul as I waded through the book of Acts this past month. I wondered why he chose to go to Jerusalem, when the Lord sent so many brothers and sisters to warn him of certain imprisonment. I wondered if he appealed to Caesar too rashly, especially when Agrippa turned to Festus and said, "This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar" (Acts 26:32). Did Paul miss a turn somewhere? What would his life had been like if he had NOT returned to Jerusalem?

I don't know the answer to that last question, but the more I read, the more certain I became that Paul was in the center of God's will when he took that last journey to Jerusalem and when he appealed to Caesar. The night after his first trial in Jerusalem, the Lord assured him, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome" (Acts 23:11). Luke concluded the book beautifully as he described Paul's imprisonment in Rome: "Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him" (Acts 28:30-31, emphasis mine). Whereas Paul once had freedom to travel from city to city preaching the Gospel, imprisonment offered him what freedom could not-- a hearing with the rulers of the Roman Empire and protection from the persecution that dogged his steps in the early years of his ministry. What an amazing Savior we have that would send Paul to the most unreachable hearts in the Roman Empire! What a wise God we serve to provide Paul with a place to "settle down" and pen some of his greatest epistles, which have supplied "food for thought" to generations of believers. "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33)

No one would have chosen imprisonment for Paul, but I suspect that if he had to choose all over again, he would set his face toward Jerusalem like a flint. God may not have called me to Jerusalem at this point in my life, but obeying Him in the little things of ordinary life is just as much a part of His will as Paul's return to Jerusalem.

So Lord, keep me in the center of Your will from day to day. Let nothing sway me from obedience. And let there be no regrets.

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Soul Lemonade, No. 9
Taipei, Taiwan