Good morning, dear people.
I don’t think it’s actually raining at present. So I shouldn’t be too hassled when I attempt my old man jog after sending this. A special feature of today is that it’s Thano’s 36th birthday. Wow! Our baby is 36!
’ve done it again. I’ve dipped into my archive from 2012. As I read the Bible passage, my trail of inspiration was confirmed to be basically the same as back then—and I couldn’t seem to think of how to substantially improve on it.
OK. Have another blessed day—dwelling in the secret place of the Most High—in other words, maintaining a HEART AFTER GOD. Ray.
Paul is now a prisoner. But he’s not a normal one. Did you notice the last verse of the previous chapter? The verse I cited above is a repeat of that description—“Then he (Governor Felix) ordered that Paul be kept UNDER GUARD in Herod’s palace.” Wow! Herod’s palace! I don’t know what that was like, but I can imagine that it could have been something akin to a fancy hotel. It was definitely not a typical prison. The FOCUS VERSE indicates that he had considerable freedom and could receive all the visitors he wanted. The only catch was that he was UNDER GUARD. But I’m quite sure that even that was entirely OK with Paul. After all, his guards represented further opportunities to share Christ.
It’s not reasonable to think that Paul sat around doing the equivalent of watching TV, soaking in the hot tub, playing video games, and getting fat on fancy food. He was busy. In fact, I wonder if God didn’t specifically design this set of circumstances to give Paul the freedom and opportunity to do some high value work that is now part of our New Testament. For it was while he was in this prison situation that he wrote the great letters of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and 2 Timothy.
The beauty and glory of it all was that Paul was not only UNDER GUARD by the Roman legal system that protected him from the hatred and physical harm sought by the Jews, but he was also UNDER GUARD by a very big God. And good news!—so are you!—if you, like Paul, are dedicated to doing His will. After all, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under (UNDER GUARD of) the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). By his own testimony, Paul was that kind of prisoner since his dramatic conversion. He even presents himself that way (Ephesians 3:1; Philemon:1). It occurs to me that everyone is a kind of prisoner to something—and I reason that this is the very best prison opportunity available.
“The believer finds safety, not in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God.”