Not According to Plans

“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:6–10, ESV)

Not According to Plans

I have always loved this passage of scripture because it shows us that things didn’t always go as planned for the Apostle Paul. It seems like he wanted to go through Asia—maybe had made plans to preach the gospel through Asia—but then was forbidden by the Holy Spirit from going through Asia. So he changed plans. They decided to go into Bithynia. Yet again, the Spirit did not allow them to go to Bithynia. So, they changed things up and went to Troas. While in Troas he received a vision that clearly showed him where God wanted him to go—to Macedonia. 

Can you imagine the frustration Paul could have felt as his plans fell through time and time again? We don’t know what Paul was feeling in the midst of this. We simply know that he kept making plans and the Holy Spirit kept preventing him from accomplishing those plans. Yet, eventually things became clear to him. God may have prevented him from going to some places, but God was explicitly sending him to Macedonia. So, rather than complaining that things didn’t go as he had planned, Paul packed up and sailed to Macedonia. 

Typical of Life and Ministry

This happens to us all the time in life and in ministry. We prayerfully make plans and then things change. The Spirit either prevents us from doing what we wanted to do OR leads us in another direction. In those moments we can do two things: (1) we can grumble and complain because our plans have been disrupted or (2) we can patiently follow his leading and obediently go where he wants us to go. It should be an easy choice, but we don’t always make it easy. 

One of Those Weeks

Things haven’t gone according to my plans this week. I have struggled to get my blog posts written because things have come up and I’ve felt led by the Spirit to invest time and energy in those things. At first, I found myself frustrated because I wanted to do BOTH these other things AND my writing. Yet, there’s only so much time in the week. 

So, rather than “kicking at the goads” I have submitted. This will be my final post for the week, and I’ll pick up my typical writing schedule after I return from vacation. It’s always better to follow the Lord’s leading than to do it my way. He’s a lot smarter than me :-)