Knowing When
AM Psalm 45 • PM Psalm 47, 48
1 Samuel 25:1-22 • Acts 14:1-18 • Mark 4:21-34
There are times in my life when I’ve worked on something and hit so many obstacles that I want to either scream or give up. Whether it’s been a leaky pipe, a relationship problem, or a computer gone awry, I have often allowed my frustration to swell into anger. Then across my mind flashes I don’t need this aggravation! I quit! Sometimes I’ve thought that even when it’s been big, life goals: graduate school, marriage, moving across country. What in me decides to keep on or quit? My heart? My soul? My belief in my own ability? My belief in my goal or cause?
It is difficult to imagine clearly just how much courage it took to spread the good news of Jesus in the years following his mortal death and divine resurrection. We know in the first days after Christ died how scattered and confused his followers are but we also get to see their faith and resolve after he appears to them. In their separate journeys, they each must wage battle not with a sword but with words and acts of faith. After all, the news they are spreading is not only a threat to the Jewish and Roman power structures but to all aspects of life—from spiritual to economics to intellectual to cultural.
After getting out of Iconium when they were about to be stoned to death, Paul and Barnabas hit another obstacle in Acts 14—a cultural roadblock in the city of Lystra. After healing a man “crippled from birth” the crowds begin shouting and calling them Zeus and Hermes, and begin gathering things to sacrifice to these gods in human form. Paul and Barnabas probably want to scream just like me. And they do! Running out amidst the crowd, they are so frustrated they tear their clothes and yell:
Friends, why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
Spreading the good news of Christ was and is a tricky and sometimes dangerous business. Paul and Barnabas had the courage to speak boldly about the grace and power of God but they also knew when to run. Most important, they didn’t quit.
Holy Spirit, help me remember that my frustration with obstacles happens by my own hand. When I let go of my illusion of control and give God space in my day, I am opening up to the grace, power and pure love that is God. Thank you for helping me learn when to stay and when to run, when to speak boldly and when to stay silent, and especially, for not quitting.
Written by Bernadette Reda
Happy to learn each day about the joy of gratitude.