Acts 24:27 Felix left Paul imprisoned

Paul, of course, is one of the heroes of the Christian faith, and in the verse cited, he spent two years in jail for no real reason, and with no record of any fruitful activity while he was there. 

Acts 24:27 (NASB95)  ²⁷ But after two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul imprisoned.

I’m sure Paul shared his faith with all the guards, but that’s a long way from starting churches and seeing God do miracles through him beyond the ordinary miracles. 

Acts 19:11 (NASB95) ¹¹ God was performing extraordinary [Lit. not the ordinary] miracles by the hands of Paul,

This reminded me of Joseph who also spent two years in prison with no record of anything happening in that time.  He did have a position of responsibility there, but he was in prison under false pretenses.  Like Paul.

Genesis 41:1 (NASB95)  ¹ Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream,

I went to Bible school after high school to prepare for the ministry.  If anything, I learned the value and importance of working for Christ. 

Passages like these are making me stop and think for a bit.

Paul was in prison, because he decided to go back to Jerusalem after Jesus had told him years earlier to leave Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive his testimony concerning Him. 

Acts 22:18 (NASB95) ¹⁸ and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’

Did Paul really think that the Jews and Jesus had changed their minds, so that it was safe to go back and that Jesus wanted him to do that?

Joseph had been sold into slavery years previously and was now in prison with no hope of ever getting out, except for several dreams he had before all this happened that seemed to indicate a bright future.  There was nothing in his real life that would suggest anything different from what he was experiencing now.

So here are two of the major characters in the Bible who, we could say, their lives were put on hold for a couple years.  At least that would be how we would look at that.  The Bible covers those two years in each case with less than a sentence.  I suspect that God saw that differently.

In our world today, I can make a long list of really serious needs that need help, yet I’m getting the strongest impression that God is not as concerned about our activity as He is about something else. 

What would that be?

I have talked in several recent articles about joy.  I’m seeing that joy is a lot more than just feeling happy.  It involves seeing God delighting in you like you would delight in your grandchildren and delighting in God even in the face of all kinds of circumstances that you might wish were different.  Your joy in the face of these circumstances is a show of trust that God is not only able to change them as He wants but that you are safe in His care in the meantime, and that you don’t doubt His faithfulness and love.  Your joy is an act of faith, faith in a God who created you in His image so that you could have fellowship with Him.

What does that fellowship look like?  There’s a lot of thanksgiving in it, like for all the things that are going right today, your car’s working fine, you’re still working, prayers about all the circumstances of your life, prayers for all the people you meet or see, the things in the news. 

I’m becoming more convinced that God would rather you did nothing for Him but rather you learned how to enjoy being in His presence.  God is able to do more in a short time than you could do in a lifetime.  But we were created in His image that we might commune with Him. 

I remember knowing or being around Christians who I thought were so focused on God that they were oblivious to what I saw as needs around them.  I think this fellowship with God would make us more attuned to other people and the needs around us.

I don’t think God wants us to build a hut in the woods to get away from ordinary life so we can spend more time alone with Him.  It’s in the circumstances of life that we learn faith and joy, and it’s in real life that we are able to bless others with the life of God.