A Call To The Remnant

Act 15:39  And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; 

This is a well known incident. Paul and Barnabas fall out with each other, so much so that they change their plans and Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus leaving Paul behind. The plan had been to go back and revisit the brothers and sisters in every city and encourage them. It was a good plan, but the personalities of these very Godly men got in the way of the plan that very well was their own. Has this ever happened to you? Has you temper or some other personality trait caused you to fall out with someone and it seems that you have completely blown it? I have lost count over the last thirty years how many times it seems that I have “stepped on,’ the plan of the Lord. It never left me unaffected, quite the opposite. I would aid and abet the enemy in beating me up.

I am sure that as Paul watched Barnabas and Mark sail away, he must have regretted his “sharp contention,’ with his dear brother in the Lord. They had been through so much together. Barnabas must have looked back as the ship sailed away and had similar thoughts, the Holy Spirit, no doubt, convicting both for their parts in the contention. Yet I want you to see something. Despite us, despite our many failings, God has a plan and He is working it out. Paul decides to take Silas in the place of Barnabas. Little did not Paul know that he and Silas were about to live out one of the most famous incidents in the New Testament. Very shortly after leaving, they find themselves in the bowels of a dungeon, whipped to within an inch of their lives and in stocks.

And despite the previous failings of Paul, we see God had a plan. I believe that plan was for the jailer and his whole family to be saved. Silas was probably the perfect guy for this job. We find them both praising the Lord at the midnight hour and all the prisoners listening to them and then, a great earthquake. God came down. The doors flew open and the men, taken by the presence of God no doubt, stayed right there in their cells. The jailer, supposing the very opposite is about to kill himself but instead he gets saved and all of his family and goes on to have a house church in that city. Gods plan. Remember, God had forbidden them to preach the word in Asia, they also being refused permission to go to Bithynia. Then they had a vision of a man pleading for them to come to Macedonia. You see how every step of the way, God had a plan and He was bringing it to pass? Paul and Silas were on a need to know basis. Brothers and sisters, more often than nought we are on a need to know basis. I would imagine that knowing they were going to be scourged and put in stocks would not have helped them along.

If you have messed up and missed the mark, take heart brothers and sisters. You have no idea what God has in store for you. He uses imperfect individuals to carry out His perfect will. It is always about His plan and never about ours. We may go crashing ahead sometimes with what seems to be right, and yet it is completely wrong, its is simply our own plan. God will interrupt our plans. He will use what is useful to Him and bring you to where He wants you to be. My only advice is to listen for the direction or as in this case, the redirection of the Holy Spirit. Stay humble and broken and contrite and no matter what, move in forgiveness. Be quick to forgive those that have wronged you. After all, we are but vessels in the hands of the Lord, and if we are quick to forgive then He is faithful and just and merciful to forgive us. In the end, it is all His work and it is all His glory and it is His story. Keep walking brothers and sisters, God will use you.