Paul is about to enter into Jerusalem, where we know he is going to have a  rough time (to put it lightly).  It certainly appears that Paul is aware of this as well - he is essentially telling his disciples that he knows what’s coming.  Here is what jumped out at me this morning though - Luke (who is writing this for us to read) and the other disciples are said to have felt led by God to pray for Paul, that he would not go.  Paul is clearly called by God to go.  And I think this sets up an interesting idea that is worth camping out on for a moment this morning.  And that is this - “How can God be calling Paul to go and the disciples to beg him NOT to go at the same time?”.

I think we sometimes get confused on trivial things like this...I think ideas like this can potentially trip people up in their faith.  Is God going crazy here?  What’s the deal - He is seemingly telling two sets of people 2 different things at the same time.

As I am reading this, I can’t help but to think about the personal nature of our relationship with God.  I can’t help but think about the fact that God is playing more of a 3-dimensional game of chess than what we often can appreciate.  God isn’t crazy at all - God is equipping everyone for his own calling.  Think about how encouraging it would be to a head-strong, stubborn, God-fearing man like Paul to hear the pleas of these disciples, to have them weeping for him.  I am almost certain that this gave Paul courage.  I am almost certain that this gave Paul a sense of purpose.  I am almost certain that this gave Paul something to focus on, their comfort and well-being, and kept him distracted in a small way from what was coming; what he knew was coming.  The disciples were setting Paul up for success while they were doing exactly what they were being asked to do by God...even when they probably felt unsuccessful.  Their success wasn’t related to the result that they’d envisioned, which was calling Paul off of this trip, but in simply doing what God had asked.

On the other hand, Paul was going to Jerusalem.  He knew that was his calling.  He was resolute in that.  He certainly wasn’t going to be called off, and in the midst of the cries of these disciples, I am sure Paul would have had moments where he knelt down and asked God, “God, am I getting this right?  These men, whom I know you know and know you, are telling me NOT to go.  God, what am I to do?”  You know that Paul had to have this internal battle.  In the end though, he got enough re-assurance to press on as God had called him to do.

So, again, it is the personal nature of the calling that we each receive from God that jumps out at me.  The fact that sometimes we are the only ones who understand our calling.  The idea that we should be MOST confident in what God is telling us, and that we should lean into that, and trust that, above all else.  That’s my take away from today’s reading.