The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 18:9-11, “One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.’ So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.” As Paul was in Corinth and preaching the gospel message, the Lord spoke directly to him one night. I note the communication from the Lord, in a vision, is a verbal statement. Luke doesn’t mention if it was part of a two-way, broader conversation Paul had with the Lord or just simply this statement, but clearly this is not Paul having an “intuition” or “leading” or “feeling”. And, certainly not what passes today for "the Lord told me…", if you get my drift. This strikes me as something of an entirely different order. This is one person (the Lord) verbally speaking to another (Paul) just as any of us would have over the phone or face to face with another, in this case in a vision. I have never had the Lord speak directly to me like this. As many, I have had those moments where I feel the Lord has very distinctly laid something on my heart, and possibly even communicated to me in some fashion - but never where I could literally quote him word for word after the fact. He has never spoken to me in this way. I wonder what Paul’s reaction at the time was? I suspect that would be based on how often the Lord spoke to him. Was it just the few times we read of in Scripture, as on the road to Damascus and other times? Or was there an ongoing dialog that went on for years? Regardless, I find these comments very fascinating and wonderful as they represent a connection of the Lord with his people, a connection of heaven with planet earth. The great divide spanned between this lost and fallen world with its Creator, physical life in the here-and-now with the Eternal. A connection between life today and the resurrection to come! Awesome to think about isn’t it?! Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you! If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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