What To Do When You Step Out to Follow God and God Vanishes
One of the patterns that I’ve noticed over many years of following Jesus is that often the lower God speaks, the more difficult the road ahead.
The more certainty I feel to respond to God in the beginning often means more questioning, doubting, and second-guessing later on.
In today’s reading of Acts 13, the clarity of Barnabas and Saul’s appointment for a “special work” doesn’t mean the the path ahead of them with be smooth, easy, swift.
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Their journey begins with a holy exclamation mark. The leaders fast. They pray. They lay their hands on the dynamic duo and send them off, led by the Holy Spirit.
Cities flash by.
Seleucia.
Cyprus.
Salamis.
Paphos.
We discover John Mark is among them—an important detail that won’t play out for a few more chapters.
But all the prayer and fasting and preparation doesn’t mean Barnabas, Saul, and John Mark won’t encounter difficulty; perhaps it means the difficulty will be greater (and they’re better spiritually prepped for it).
They meet Bar-Jesus, an evil magician and false prophet. Meanwhile Elymus, the evil magician, tries to oppose them too.
Paul looks him straight n the eye and tells him he’s going blind. Paul, a man once made blind, now blinds another man to open his eyes to the wonder and truth of God.
When the governor watched the miracle unfold, he became a believer.
From Paphos, Paul and his friends move onto Perga in Pamphlia. At his point, John Mark leaves them to return to Jerusalem. Spoiler alert: This will become a point of contention soon.
Meanwhile, Paul preaches the Gospel in Egypt. The people gather to hear the teaching, but this only makes the Jews jealous. Many came to know Christ. Others tossed Paul and Barnabas out of the vicinity.
Sometimes we’re tempted to believe that if we sense a loud and clear directive from God that that means the path ahead will be smooth, easy, fast, without obstacles.
But often the clearest directives of God are meant to ground us in the reality that God is with us no matter what.
No matter how hard the journey becomes.
No matter how much opposition we face.
No matter how many naysayers try to steer us off course.
No matter how hard the transition may be.
Like Paul and Barnabas, we can press in with trust, prayer, faithfulness. Sometimes the most difficult terrain yields the juiciest, most flavorful fruit for God’s kingdom.
