My Head and Brick Walls

Acts 16:6-7 ESV

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.

Another call, another message left. Now I wait. This is the time when I wait to call back because the message will be ignored or not returned. So, how long should I wait before calling back?  Things had been moving along at full boar and then all of the sudden nothing was happening. The engine is revving and the wheels are spinning but no movement is happening. The well used adage comes to mind “when God closes a door, he opens a window”. So, I am left trying to find a window to smash open…

How do you fight against the Holy Spirit? Doesn’t God want Christians to share the gospel all-the-time? According to Paul the answer is no. He was constrained from sharing the Gospel in Asia and Bithynia. He was constrained by the Holy Spirit, from ministry in that area. Battling with not being able to go in a direction I wish to go, leaves me wondering “what does it look like when the Spirit of God won’t allow something?” Looking at Paul’s ministry it must be assumed that the Spirit stopping something doesn’t look like hardship.

Paul was called to Macedonia. When he comes back to do the Ministry in Ephesus, he notes that “a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries”. Meaning that opposition is not a sign of God shutting a door. Riots, beatings, arrest, and stoning are not signs of God shutting doors either, apparently. What then did it look like when God stopped the Apostle from serving in Asia. Looking at his statement to the Corinthians of his work in Ephesus, it must be related to effective work. If your work is effective, it will be opposed. There was a tree I played in on a friend’s farm. I had walked by it multiple times, played in it some, but this time, we broke branches, and therefore the bees came out and were not pleased, we shall say. I could do all I wanted around that tree, but when the hive was threatened the battle started to rage.

What does it look like when the Spirit forbids? Nothing. No work of Satan in opposition. No great defeats or great successes. Simply a quagmire of ineffective ministry. A stalled campaign with no opposition. Effective work looks like controversy, disruption, and opposition. The effective work in Ephesus looked like the church having to support newly converted witches who had burned their books (and means of income), false teachers attempting to cast out demons, whole economies on the verge of collapse, and riots in the streets. Often the quagmire is safe. My unsaved neighbors aren’t mad at me, my kids are okay, my job isn’t in danger. To be direct, quagmires are comfortable. What do you do when you are in a quagmire and no doors or windows are open? Paul couldn’t do ministry in Bithynia or Asia, so they went to Troas and prayed. I did insert prayer because Paul received his vision and that normally comes when people are praying and fasting. The text also doesn’t say how long they were in Troas before direction was given.  When all the doors are closed you pray and wait. Hezekiah stops the springs as he waits for the Assyrian invasion. David stockpiles materials for the temple he can’t build.

Do what you can. Pray and wait. Direction is eventually given. You might not like the direction you get, but orders will be given and new doors will be opened.

CORAM DEO