In the early 1900s, one of
the world’s premier evangelists was Solomon Ginsburg. He has an interesting
story, but the short version goes like this—Ginsburg was born in Poland into a
Jewish family. As a young man, he converted to Christ after studying Isaiah 53.
After his conversion, his family disowned him, but he persevered and became a well-known
preacher.
The story goes that in 1912 Ginsburg had finished up a
month long evangelistic campaign in Lisbon, Portugal in which over a thousand
professions of faith were made. He was tired and decided to take a furlough to
the U.S. He bought tickets for a boat to take him from Portugal, then England,
then to the U.S. But on the morning he was about set out, there were terrible
weather reports for the Bay of Biscay. After praying about it and reading Deut.
2:7 during his devotions, he felt that the Lord was telling him to delay his
trip. So, he waited a few days. Ginsburg eventually caught the Majestic in London and his transatlantic
voyage was smooth and restful.
Only after arriving in the U.S. did Ginsburg learn why
his trip was delayed. Had he gone with his original schedule, Ginsburg would
have arrived just in time to board the . . . Titanic.[i]
Solomon Ginsburg (1867-1927)
God’s delays are not
denials, and there is design in all His detours. Paul encountered a similar
situation in Acts 16 during his second missionary journey:
6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and
Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7
And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the
Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to
Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was
standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10
And when Paul[c] had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into
Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
(Acts 16:6-10)
If you look at a map, you
can clearly see that God called an audible in the middle of this second
missionary journey. Having traveled up Asia Minor, Paul planned to go northeast
which would lead him around the Black Sea and deeper into Asia. But, God
slammed the door shut and padlocked it. Through a supernatural vision the
Spirit directed Paul and company northwest. The mission would take them into
Macedonia, which was the threshold into Greece and Europe.
A good verse to keep in
mind with this text is Psalm 37:23 which reads, “The steps of a good man are
ordered by the Lord.” We could add to that, “the stops of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” Sometimes God orders
our steps, by putting up stops. For reasons unknown at the time, the Holy
Spirit would not allow Paul and his companions to go the way they first
planned.
I was curious as I studied
this passage, I wondered, “How many times has God redirected His servant’s
travel agenda?” Here are just a few instances:
·
God allowed
Joseph to be sold to a slave-trading caravan that took him from Canaan to an
Egypt. That move resulted in Joseph’s ascendency to the Prime Minister (Gen. 37.
·
The Lord detoured
Moses and the nation of ex-slaves as they came out of Egypt. Instead of taking
them directly into Canaan, he took them down to the Red Sea (Ex. 13-14).
·
The unexpected
death of Ruth’s first husband led her to move from Moab to Bethlehem, where she
would later meet Boaz (Ruth 1)
·
When Jonah
refused to go preach to Ninevah, God sent a great fish to swallow him up and
get him back on track (Jonah 2:10-3:1)
·
In John 4 Jesus
went out of His way to go to Samaria just to meet the woman at Jacob’s well.
· The angel of the
Lord directed Philip to leave the revival in Samaria to meet up with an
Ethiopian official on a dusty road outside Jerusalem (Acts 8)
In almost every one of
those instances, God closed one door, but opened another one because there was
a greater opportunity just around the bend.
In the case of Paul, he
may have not realized it, but this course correction would alter world
history—because God was leading him to establish a Gospel beachhead on the
European continent. God had a divine appointment for Paul in Philippi to meet
Lydia, a demon possessed girl and a jailer. Each one heard the Gospel because
of a Spirit-inspired detour.
The Spirit of God, leads
the people of God, into the will of God. And, wherever God guides, He always
provides. What Paul shows us in following the Spirit’s lead is that we must be
flexible and adaptable to God’s plan. When God sets a divine appointment, He
takes us off the beaten path to meet people whose hearts are hungry for the
Gospel message.
A good prayer we should
learn to pray is—“Lord, today put me in
the path of someone who needs to hear about you. Lord give me faith to trust
that you are ordering my steps and give me boldness to speak your word.”
-DM
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