Paul and his companions arrived in Tyre, and met with the disciples there; and they discerned through the Spirit the danger that Paul would face in Jerusalem, and warned him against going there (Acts 21:1-4).

As they continued the journey to Jerusalem they came to Caesarea, it happened again: a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea with the specific purpose of warning Paul. He took Paul’s belt and tied it around his own hands and feet: then he used that imagery – a man with his hands and feet bound – as a symbol to foretell that getting arrested and bound and handed over was what was going to happen to Paul if he went to Jerusalem (21:10-11). This warning made a serious impression on the people gathered there. Luke tells us that he and the others on the mission team, as well as the members of the church in Caesarea, all urged Paul not to continue to Jerusalem (21:12).

But it didn’t make as strong an impression on Paul, because he did not look on this as new information. He had long since received this message (20:23), and he knew that he nevertheless had to go to Jerusalem and fulfill his calling there, even if it cost him his life (21:13). The Holy Spirit gave people prophetic gifts so that they could give Paul vivid confirmation of the dangers that lay ahead of him. Their weeping was breaking his heart, he admitted, even as he recognized that he must press on. So in the end all they could say was, “The Lord’s will be done” (21:14).

Often the dangers we face are entirely predictable. Often others see them even more clearly than we do. Yet even when we recognize the severity of the circumstances, God often calls us to step forward into the place of danger. I don’t like that. But that’s what’s real: sometimes, it’s the most real thing there is. Paul saw that, and he would not be talked out of accepting the danger, even though it ended up with him being beaten (21:31-32), arrested, and bound in chains (21:33).

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Thy will be done, Lord. We pray for the insight to recognize the dangers that face us, in days to come: but especially we pray for the courage to step forward into your will even when it is hard and dangerous. We trust in you, O Lord, in life and in death.

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