When It Feels Like Your Life Is Stuck
/The most frustrating part of preaching is deciding what to cut. Pruning a sermon so the main point of the passage lands squarely and clearly on the congregation’s heart is a big responsibility. And it means that lots of interesting observations won’t get preached.
On occasion those observations are so helpful that I feel like I need to share them in another way. So this week I’d like to share two things I saw in the text of Acts 9 that didn’t make this week’s sermon:
When Your Life Feels Stuck
There’s a tiny phrase in Acts 9 that carries a lot of weight:
“When Many Days Had Passed”
Acts 9:23
Luke introduces the section on the plot against Saul with: “When many days had passed…” Luke breezes by this interval, but what we find out years later, when Saul writes a letter to the Galatians:
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.
Gal 1:15–18
Those are some interesting details:
Acts 9:23 breezes through 3 years of Paul’s life, spent in the desert wilderness preparing for ministry. 3 years of obscure, silent preparation in just a few words.
But then in v26-30, in more verses than those 3 years got words in v23, the whole scene in Jerusalem occurs over just 2 weeks.
And it’s that contrast that I’d like to mention here. Luke doesn’t really point it out (that’s kind of the point) so I won’t stop us long. But it bears some thinking.
God Prepares Slowly
God often prepares people slowly. Here Saul is prepared in 3 silent years. Moses spends decades in a seeming standstill in the wilderness. Joseph languished in slavery and prison for years before the Lord advanced his cause.
And if you are in a long season that doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere, don’t despair. Because…
God Moves Swiftly
While God often prepares people slowly, we frequently find that suddenly there’s a flurry of activity.
It might be that your long season of seeming standstill is dragging down your spirit. But don’t despair. The Lord knows and the Lord sees. Our timing doesn’t look like his but, just as we trust him with our lives, we can trust him with our days.
And even if that sudden move you hoped for never comes, remember: The Lord has promised a swift action in your life that’s better than whatever we’re hoping for today:
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”1 Cor 15:51–55
And this leads us to another point:
The Usefulness of Cross References
And that brings to light another help: Cross references. This passage is wonderfully enriched by an understanding of the rest of the Bible. Our understanding of both the “many days,” v23, and the plot against Saul, v24, are helped by other passages that shed more light on those events.
The “many days” we already saw explained in more detail in Gal 1.
Saul also explains in 2 Cor 11 who was guarding the gates - not just a militia of the local Jewish population, but government of Damascus.
(Incidentally, this is also why we’re so blessed to have not 1, but 4 gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry.)
There is a whole genre of books called commentaries where Bible scholars explain the meanings of Scripture. I have commentaries on the book of Acts that are larger than the whole Bible, written by devoted and brilliant Christian scholars. I’ve benefited greatly from them.
But I have heard it said, and I fully agree, that the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible.
And chances are, your Bible has cross references - either in the margins or in between the columns. (If you aren’t quite sure how to use them, read the introductory material near the table of contents.)
Use the cross references in your Bible. They are a tremendous help:
When one verse is unclear, a related verse will shed light on it.
When something is difficult to grasp, another explanation can provide understanding.
Cross references can keep us from error: As they say, “Every heretic has his verse.” What that means is: It’s easy to take an idea from one point in the Bible and run wild with it without consulting the rest of the Bible. And Scripture, taken out of context, can be a disaster.
So read your Bible in context. That means read your Bible widely, regularly, with other Christians, and using your cross references!