Consecrating Your Contradictions
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1 (NIV)
When you look closely at Paul’s story in Acts 23, there is a striking tension. On one hand, religious and political powers are conspiring to destroy him. On the other hand, those same powers are being used to protect him. The same Roman system that will one day execute Paul is, for this moment, his shield.
That tension raises a deeper spiritual principle. Part of growing in faith often comes by discerning the Lord’s will within the contradictions, not from outside them. This means at some point you have to develop the spiritual discipline to consecrate your contradictions.
It’s a contradiction that God uses the Roman military, the very empire that would later execute Him, as an instrument for his protection. Here’s a point to think on: Even hostile people can be assigned to bless you. God’s protection often comes from unexpected sources.
Not all of God’s blessings are going to come to you through your friends. Some of them will actually be delivered to your doorstep through people who push you, challenge you, or even oppose you. God can take a system that was not built with you in mind and still use it as a vehicle to get you where He wants you to go.
That is why you cannot live your whole life trying to distance yourself from every contradiction. At some point, you must bring those contradictions to God. You place them on the altar and say, “Lord, I do not understand this, but I am going to trust that You are at work inside it.” That is what it means to consecrate your contradictions.
When you do that, you start to see what Paul’s story is teaching. There is no place, no plot, no plan, no pain, no power that is stronger than the protective hand of our sovereign God. Therefore, don’t limit where you expect God’s help to come from because He can use anybody. He can use any system. He can use any circumstance—even those people around you who seem like enemies to you and your faith.
So today, instead of asking God to remove every contradiction, ask Him to consecrate them.
God’s Protection Through People
But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul.
Acts 23:16 (NIV)
To get Paul from Jerusalem to Rome, God uses a plot orchestrated by 40 men who were so committed to killing Paul that they refused to eat or drink, having sworn an oath that they would not do either until they had successfully accomplished the deed. Their trap is simple. They wanted Paul brought out of the barracks so they could ambush him on the way to court and kill him.
This text conveys a clear message for us as we navigate life amidst the reality of traps that are always being laid for us: God’s providence always includes God’s protection. Who He saves, He protects.
What is striking is how that protection shows up. It does not appear as an angel with a flaming sword. It comes through a young man whose name we are never told. This young man is Paul’s nephew, and his existence is not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture, but he becomes an instant hero with one wise decision. After overhearing the plot to kill Paul, he moved quickly, and his actions saved Paul’s life.
From that, we learn an important principle: The power of God in our lives to bless us often comes through human agency. God intervenes in many ways, and one of those ways is through other people. There are people in your life who may not have been your choice, but they are God’s assignment. God uses these people to advance our lives and to keep us in the center of His will.
God works through everyday people, and I encourage you to treat them with the gratitude that they deserve. Maybe it was a praying grandparent, a parent who didn’t give up, a teacher who believed in you when you did not believe in yourself, a friend who called at the right time. I’m so glad somebody had me on their mind enough to take the time to pray for me.
Do not dismiss the “ordinary” people around you. No relationship in your life is accidental. God’s protection can often come wearing a familiar face. Don’t overlook the fact that the people who may seem common in your life might be on divine assignment.
Thank God today for the unseen protection that has come through human hands, human counsel, and human care. You did not make it here by yourself. God has been protecting you through people all along.
He Will Supply
After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
Matthew 17:24-27 (NIV)
When the tax collectors questioned Peter about paying taxes, Jesus chose to reveal His provision in an unforgettable way.
“Peter, go down to the water’s edge and grab the first fish you can. And in that fish’s mouth is going to be a coin he swallowed but couldn’t digest.” It must’ve been a coin lost by someone who never would’ve been able to retrieve it.
Miraculously, Peter goes to the water’s edge, tosses in his line, grabs that fish, and sure enough, in its mouth is a coin worth enough to satisfy both what he and Jesus would owe to pay the temple tax.
There it is, the provision of God, exactly when and where it was needed. Not too soon, not too late. Not in the way Peter expected, but in the way God ordained. I love this miracle. I love even more its meaning: Jesus will supply what you need when you need it, and he’ll do it in ways that you and I could never imagine.
Philippians 4:19 reminds us that “God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
So when you face the pressure of need—whether financial, emotional, relational, or spiritual—remember this moment. Remember the coin in the mouth of the fish. Remember that Jesus not only reigns as King, but He also stoops to care for His people as Provider.
The Power to Deliver
Joseph went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
Luke 2:5-7 (NIV)
God wants you to deliver, even if in inconvenience. Don’t you ever accept the lie that suggests otherwise.
- You can be great for God in spite of mounting pressure and weighted responsibilities.
- You can produce for the Kingdom.
- Even if you start with a deficit, you can juggle a busy schedule.
- You can raise kids alone if you have to.
- You can walk with a limp and still live with power.
- You can grow in barren places.
- You can be loving in hostile environments.
- You can demonstrate the strength of faith.
Even if ou are standing in demonic strongholds and everybody is telling you that your journey is too long or that your journey is too hard or that your journey is too threatening, you ought to be able to say, “You know what? You might be right if all you are assessing are the facts, but I don’t live just by facts. I live by faith. And faith suggests that I’ve got to make the trip. And if I have to make the trip, if I have to show up, if I have to be great, if I have to exercise gifts, then I’ve got to be ready to deliver.”
If God could give Mary the power to deliver against the backdrop of all of this threat and inconvenience, God can give us the power to do the same. You can turn any setting into a place for Christ to emerge. He can be born, revealed, and shared in any setting, any situation, any circumstance.
A pregnant woman, ready to deliver, walked 90 miles against a politically corrupt census when she was ready to push her baby out. She arrived there and delivered, deciding to be great for God. Why? Because she was full of Christ. She could deliver because she was full.
What is it she had to deliver? She had to deliver Jesus Christ. And in many ways, when Christ dwells in us, when we have Christ inside of us, and we are full of the hope of glory, we can be ready to deliver for God as well.
From the Beginning
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:8-12 (NIV)
The angel’s message was one of great joy. It was a proclamation that would resonate throughout the ages: for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. That one verse alone envelops the essence of our Christian faith. It is the sum total of our spiritual hope. It signals the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. It is the dawn of redemption. It’s the promise of God’s boundless love for us.
In this one simple verse, we find the very heart of the Christian message: that in the humble birth of a child, the world received its long-awaited Savior, the Messiah, the Anointed One who would bring light to the darkness and who would bring salvation to any and all who believe. As you focus your thinking on the angelic visitation to these shepherds and the profound significance of the message they received, it invites us to open our hearts to the transforming power of this one night’s dramatic angelic visitation.
Notice again who God reveals Jesus’s birth to. He reveals Jesus’s birth to shepherds. Not a king, not a prince, not an emperor, not a ruler, but shepherds. It’s just as instructive who He didn’t first reveal Jesus’s birth to as it is instructive who he decided to reveal the birth of Christ to, long before Jesus would even articulate His mission. God revealed His divine will, disclosing the gift He was giving, the kinds of people who are included in it, who He is blessing, where He is going to determine to rest His favor, and how He will more prominently be seen in the world.
Shepherds were at the bottom of the food chain as members of that society, lowly marginalized members of the culture. They were almost the forgotten. Their very occupation relegated them to the fringes of society, socially isolated and economically precarious. Shepherds were constantly exposed to the things their flocks were exposed to, and that often made them ceremonially and ritually impure and unclean. Many thought of them as a more criminal class, untrustworthy, viewed as rough and rugged and dangerous. It’s so powerful that God decides to reveal His character, His reach, and His intentionality at the very beginning of Jesus’s earthly life to these shepherds. The lesson is clear: God is willing to favor everybody. And there is nothing you can do to status yourself into a better life with God.
