Acts 23:11-15 (ESV)
11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”
12 When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. 14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. 15 Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”
As we read the above passage we see a definite gap between what is actually happening by God in verse 11 and what is desired to happen by men in verses 12-15. This is the truth we need to come to rest in for a valuable lesson in our lives. God has a plan for us. Our enemies have a plan for us. Which one of those plans do you think will be carried out? This is how the world system and Satan’s system works. The evilness of man is being planned out in their hearts and minds each day. Sometimes that includes plots against the righteous (see Proverbs 1 for more evidence of this). Yet, God is not only highly aware of these plots (see Psalms 139 about His awareness), but also makes sure the plots are not carried out. This is the rest and assurance we have, by faith, in God’s sovereignty and His graciousness in our lives. God has a plan for us. There is nothing on the face of the earth whether human or evil spirit, that can prevent God’s plans. God wanted Paul to testify in Rome about the resurrection of Christ. These men wanted him dead by evening. They even took a vow to not eat until that happened. Well, they either starved to death or eventually broke their vow to God, because Paul was escorted to Rome by a division of Roman soldiers. He stayed in Rome for years and testified there about Christ. We might hear about threats against us, but until God is finished with His plans for us, there is no threat that stands against God’s sovereign power.
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