Where We Never Expected to Be

In Acts 15 the church is in a crisis. Jewish Christian have been telling Gentile Christian that they must also keep the Old Law and old ways to be saved. This isn’t so but the leadership in the church knows that this issue is going away soon. That have to balance their response to keep Gentiles in right behavior without adding the burden of the Old Law to them.

Eventually, they write a letter outlining the principles they want the Gentiles to follow. To ensure the validity of the letter they send it with people on both sides of the issue, Paul and Barnabas, who were familiar to the Gentile Christian, and Judas and Silas well know men in the brotherhood.

This seems to settle down the problems and after they spend some time with Antioch they make plans to travel back home. Yet, an interesting note is found in Acts 15:34.

“But it seemed good to Silas to remain there.”

I wonder what caused that? It wouldn’t be the place you expect a Jewish boy like Silas to want to stay at. Maybe the excitement of the things happing there interested him. Maybe he likes the congregation. Whatever the reason, it takes his life in an unexpected direction. Soon he is off with Paul on a missionary journey. Months traveling, nights in prison, doing all kinds of work in the Lord’s service he never had expected. What was going to be a few weeks to Antioch and back became a new life traversing the world.

We too might find ourselves in place we never expected to be. Life situations that have changed in ways we never expected. We can resent them or we can embrace them. Like Silas we look and see the good that can be there. Opportunities to serve. Changes that can do a greater good. Chances to expand our horizons.

We might not know where things are going but we can know if we follow the will of God, he will use us for the greater good in whatever place we might find ourselves, even if it is a place we never expected to be.

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