A Surefire Church Growth Method- Perscution! Acts 8:4

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God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable minds Of never failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs, And works His gracious will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessing on your head.
His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.
(God Moves in a Mysterious Way- Words by William Cowper)

This song is always difficult for me to sing because I get lost in the language. But as soon as I read the passage for today, the first line of the song came to my mind as I thought about the failure of Saul and the Jewish leaders to crush the Way and the providence of God that used persecution to spread the life-giving message of the resurrection. The song is beautiful when I take time to really look at it instead of just go through the motions of singing it. The only line that I might take issue with is "His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour."

I think it would be easier to trust in God if that "fast" were the case. But we know that often is not the case. At least it doesn't feel like the case when we feel like God should be intervening in a situation NOW!  

But if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was using every situation that you were ever going through to gain glory for Himself and souls for His kingdom, would it change your outlook on those situations?

Just think about the situation described in Acts 8. Stephen has just been murdered. But his dying breath was one of forgiveness. It would have been a beautiful story if Saul/Paul had seen the error of his ways then and been converted to Christ based on Stephen's powerful testimony. But he didn't. In fact, Saul's appetite for persecuting the church seems to have been only whetted by Stephen's death and he began "ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he put them in prison" (Acts 8:3). And because of Saul's hardness of heart after the death of Stephen...the church began to spread! Wait a minute, that wasn't supposed to happen. Persecution is designed and intended to stop things, not speed them up!

If only we could read God's intentions and God's providence as quickly in our own lives! Wouldn't it be nice if you could see God's clear plan during the next trial of your life in the same amount of time it takes to read from Acts 7:60 to Acts 8:4! 

The truth, though, is that our discernment of God's ways is not always necessary;

our obedience to God's is.

In other words, how different would the book of Acts been if Acts 8:4 read, "Therefore, those who had been scattered became fearful for their lives and for their families and they stopped speaking about the name until the dust had settled." Would the people of Samaria have received the word from Phillip (8:5-24)? Would the gospel of Christ have spread to Ethiopia by the Eunuch (8:25-39)? Would Saul have been converted on the road to Damascus if he didn't even felt compelled to go to Damascus in the first place because the Christians had already shut up!? Would the gospel have spread to the gentile world through Paul and reached us today?

Of course, we know that God's over-arching and providential will would have happened somehow anyway. But the point is that His providential will happened the way it is recorded in the book of Acts because people were obedient to His already revealed will from the book of Matthew. 

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go (literally- as you are going!) and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'”    Matthew 28:18-20

What are you going through now that you question "why, God!?" I wouldn't for a minute critique someone for asking God why! But if we are convinced that there is a God big enough for us to ask, "why," then what I would challenge all of us to do is to say "Yes, Lord," with every single "Why, God?" that ever comes out of our mouths!

I wonder how many times I have forced God to change his plans of salvation for the people around me because I was too self-absorbed or too depressed during my "Why, God?" moments to also say, "yes, Lord."

I pray that we will never "scan His work in vain." I can't wait to get to heaven and hear about the way God worked in and through my life that I was not even aware of because my vision is very, very near-sighted. I have to think that will only happen if I obey Jesus command to "make disciples of all the nations" in the same way the church in Acts 8:4 did. And I pray for forgiveness and mercy for the untold times that I have let my circumstances overcome my faith instead of having enough faith to trust that God is in control even in the midst of the worst of circumstances.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."

Romans 8:28-29