18:9 Now the Lord spoke
to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep
silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I
have many people in this city.” 11 And he continued there a year and six
months, teaching the word of God among them.
12 When Gallio was
proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought
him to the judgment seat, 13 saying, “This fellow persuades men to worship God
contrary to the law.”
14 And when Paul was
about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of
wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear
with you. 15 But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look
to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.” 16 And he
drove them from the judgment seat.
One "disadvantage" of going through the book of
Acts in such detail is that there is always the danger of losing sight of the
bigger picture. Some of us by nature/personality are detail oriented and some
of us are big picture people. Naturally I'm a big picture person but I try and
push myself to be both. You really need both to fully understand people,
issues, and history. The general story of the book of Acts is a few people
tasked with sharing the reality of who Jesus is with the whole world beginning with
the Jews. This mission was a constant battle of rowing against the current.
Tradition was against them. Popular opinion was against them. Long established
(false) theology was against them. Manpower and finances were against them.
Logistics, communication methods, and sheer enormity of the task were all
against them. However of all those things it was the daily grinding reality of
being hated, misunderstood, and resisted by people day after day that was the
most difficult. We are wired for harmony. We default to "Go along to get
along". Very few people like to be constantly at odds with the people and
culture around them.
If you remember there was one constant prayer request at the
beginning of Acts. The disciples were always praying for boldness. It requires
persistent boldness to stand against everything and everyone day after day.
Here in Acts 18 Paul is getting tired. His fight and will to
keep rowing against the stream is waning. God understood. He always understands
where we are and what we're going through. He sent Paul a message. Perhaps He
sent Gallio a message too. Either way for the first since Paul dedicated his
life to making Jesus known the authorities didn't beat, imprison, or even
resist him. God protected Paul in Corinth because he was too tired and
downtrodden to face further open resistance.
What a God we serve.
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