The Lord is Standing Next to You

Read Acts 23:1-11

This is a continuation of Paul’s speech to the Sanhedrin.

The Lord Is Standing Next to You

Paul said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.” The high priest, Ananias, ordered a guard to punch Paul in the face. At this, Paul said, “God will strike you, you white washed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you violate the law by ordering I be [punched].”

Paul was told he insulted the high priest. Paul became very humble and said he didn’t know Ananias was the high priest. (I thought that was odd. I’m sure he was dressed like a high priest.) Paul quoted scripture. He said, “It is written, ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people’.”

Then Paul pitted the crowd against one another. Sadducees and Pharisees were present. The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there are neither angels nor spirits but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. When Paul said he was on trial because of his hope in the resurrection of the dead, a dispute broke out between the Sadducees and Pharisees. The assembly was divided.  There was a great uproar and vigorous arguing.

The Pharisees said they found nothing wrong with Paul. The commander thought Paul might be torn to pieces so they took Paul away. The Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” It is so comforting to know in our distress, the Lord stands near us.

I think many times our minds are so cluttered in non-ending events on our calendar that we do not take time to be with God. Therefore, God’s voice cannot be heard over the roar and buzz in our brain. We continually think about our next errand to run or our kids next sports practice or family event. Our mind is packed full of things…not Him.

We, as moms, dads, preachers, police, secretaries etc., take those roles seriously, but so many do not take seriously the most important role of all: gaining love, knowledge and wisdom from the Word and applying it to our lives so we can express it with our deeds therefore snatching people away from the fire (Jude 23).

God’s question will not focus on how many football games we attended or how many cupcakes we made for our kids friends (although that is important). We will be accountable if we put more importance on the Lord than any other thing in our life.

We need to have the integrity of Paul even in the midst of being ‘torn to pieces’. He spoke Truth because the Lord was standing next to him. What could you accomplish if you acknowledged that the Lord was standing next to you?