Daily Devotional – July 7, 2020

I came across some good one-liners I think you might appreciate, maybe you don't, but it's so hot that maybe you won't appreciate them, but here we go. It's so hot that I saw a chicken lay an omelet.

It's so hot I saw a squirrel picking up nuts with potholders. It's so hot I saw a funeral procession the other day pulling through a Dairy Queen. It's so hot that Jehovah's Witnesses started telemarketing.

It's so hot that two trees were fighting over a dog. It's so hot that I saw a cop chasing a thief and they were both walking. It's so hot that cows are giving powdered milk. And then, I don't know about yours, but it's so hot my thermometer goes up to, are you kidding me?

Well, it is a little toasty. And I guess we're in for this little bit of a heat wave for quite a while as a matter of fact. Well, have you ever felt stuck? Have you ever been stuck? Maybe you are right now.

You know what I mean by that? You're in a place that you don't really want to be and for what seems to be like an endless period of time. Or you had no clue why. Why are you there? Why are you here? Why are you stuck in this situation?

What's the purpose of all of this? And you certainly couldn't see anything positive coming out of it. Or you're stuck because you find yourself saying things like, I could be so much more effective if I weren't stuck here.

You ever felt like that? Well, I want you to consider what Paul went through in Caesarea. Do you remember how he got there? You could read the whole story of his experience beginning in Acts 21, but let me just summarize it if I can.

He was in Jerusalem and some angry Jews there stirred up opposition to him and he ended up being arrested, more for his own safety initially. And he tried to defend himself, tried to defend himself to the Jews who were so angry with him.

And they listened to him until he said that Christ commissioned him to go to the Gentiles. And then they broke out in an uproar. So the Roman officials kept him locked up until there could be a hearing to try to get to the bottom of this thing.

But while he was locked up there in Jerusalem, a plot against his life was uncovered and it was foiled. But to foil the plot and to protect Paul's life, he had to get sent to Caesarea. And he was to be imprisoned in Caesarea until he could be tried for this apparent mob insurrection that he was in the middle of.

Now, what crime had he committed for his imprisonment? None. None. Why was he stuck in a Roman holding prison? Because of what some angry people did. People who hated him and his message of the gospel.

Not because of anything that he did. At least not anything wrong that he did. So on the one hand, this wasn't anything new in Paul's experience. He'd been in prisons before. He'd suffered persecution before.

He'd traveled all over the Mediterranean world proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. And he's the only savior from man's plight, man's sin. And just about everywhere he went, there were some who didn't particularly like what he had to say.

More than once he had run-ins with local authorities. Primarily because of the Jews stirring up opposition to him. And he even did a brief stint in a jail in Philippi. But the emphasis is on the word brief.

All those previous times of opposition were pretty short-lived. He was simply able to move on to another location. But every time he did, he left a group of believers behind that ended up becoming a local church.

But this time it's different. He arrived in Jerusalem just in time for Pentecost in AD 57. Then came his arrest and shuttling to Caesarea. And he was stuck in that prison in Caesarea for two years.

Two years.

Let that sink in. What could he have done for Christ in those two years? That's longer than his first missionary journey. And in that missionary journey, he planted half a dozen churches in regions in the Mediterranean world.

Asia Minor. And that's about the length of his second missionary journey. Where in that journey he ministered to the churches that he'd already planted in that first journey. And he planted further works in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth.

Even preached in Athens. And now, for two years, he's going to be stuck in a Caesarean prison. What issues arise in such circumstances? What would you struggle with if you were so stuck? What would you do?

And maybe, just maybe, this is exactly where you are right now. Stuck. And you honestly can't see anything you've done that's caused your stuckness. Okay. So now what? Now what? Let's talk about this the next couple of days.

And I would just encourage you to think about it. What would you do if you were in Paul's sandals? What are you doing if you are already in Paul's sandals? You are so stuck. What would you do? What are you doing?

How are you handling it? So meditate on that. Think on that. And we'll come back tomorrow and we'll start exploring this a little more. So for the rest of the day today, let's pray and ask the Lord to encourage us even if we are stuck.

So our Father and our God, we do thank you today for the fact that you are our God, even in those periods of time in our lives when we feel stuck. And I pray that by your grace, you would encourage us through your word and challenge us as we consider how to handle those periods of our lives.

This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Well, I hope you keep cool the rest of the day and God bless you richly. Hope to see you back tomorrow.