What did we do before GPS? Remember those paper maps, that were impossible to refold once you opened it up. You had to watch for the signs. This many miles to this town, or this many miles to this highway. What mile marker was that? And if you missed your exit, then you had to navigate on the fly. No computer voice to tell you “recalibrating.” And then when you figured out you’re truly lost, then it was time to pull over at a gas station and ask for help. Signs, they give us directions, they tell us important information. If we choose to ignore them, we do so at our own peril. If the sign ahead says bridge out, and you keep on going, you’re gonna be in trouble. Just as we have road signs or GPS, Scripture has been given us and there are signs, heavenly signs, that point to Christ. Signs we must pay attention to. Maybe we too like Jonah have found ourselves off course, running away, going in the opposite direction, and yet God still gives us signs to woo us back, to correct our trajectory and get us back on course.
If you’ve ever been in a life or death experience, or know someone who has, you might’ve said afterwards, “How did I survive that?” I’ve seen video footage of race car wrecks where the car is totally demolished and then the driver climbs out amazingly unscathed. Or when survivors are pulled out of destroyed buildings from earthquakes or mudslides. The question comes back, “How were you not killed?” In wartime some soldiers who survived returned sharing horrific memories of how they lived but their buddy just mere inches away was killed. And they are left wondering “why was I spared?” One of the most moving lines in the movie Saving Private Ryan is at the end when the rescued soldier, the now Older Veteran, is standing at the grave site of the platoon leader who gave his life to bring him back home, and he turns to his wife and asks her to tell him he’s led a good life, that he’s a good man. Has he wondered all these years if his escape from death was worth all those who perished getting him out from the front lines? That question of “why I am I still here” is one that also crosses our minds from time to time, especially considering the many times it seems when we should have not survived. We have one of those death defying incidents in our text this morning. But what is more significant is the meaning behind this survival.
Military Missions have curious code names: Operation Overlord, Operation Rolling Thunder, Operation Red Dawn, Operation Urgent Fury, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Desert Fox, and there was one even code named Operation Wrath of God. The methodology for naming the campaigns is fascinating, even for fake missions like “operation mincemeat.” One of the more famous ones in recent history was named Operation Enduring Freedom launched in 2001. What if your mission was named Enduring Suffering? How many would sign up for that one? Or operation Enduring Patience? These missions don’t connote quick strikes or urgency. And many of us would rather cut short any suffering or trials than have to endure them. But we endure to the end. Paul wrote to run the race in such a way as to win the prize. And you don’t win anything if you quit. You don’t win for tapping out. Let’s dig in to our text.
Acts 23:12-35 Ideology of Hate Vs. God’s Sovereignty
Acts 16:6-15 Following the Holy Spirit’s Guidance