Acts 23:22-26: a reflection

22So the commanding officer let the young man go, charging him, “Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me.” 23He called to himself two of the centurions, and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers to go as far as Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred men armed with spears, at the third hour of the night.” 24He asked them to provide mounts, that they might set Paul on one, and bring him safely to Felix the governor. 25He wrote a letter like this: 26“Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings.

After a plot is uncovered to ambush and kill Paul, the Roman commander acts to protect him, and the protection is remarkable in scale: he assembles two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to escort Paul safely by night to the governor at Caesarea. A prisoner, threatened with death, is preserved through the very Roman authorities who held him, guarded by a small army. God's purpose that Paul should testify at Rome was being preserved, through the unlikely means of a Roman officer's protection.

Notice how God's protection of Paul worked through unexpected means. The threat was real; a plot had been laid to kill him. But God preserved his servant, not through some dramatic intervention from heaven, but through the ordinary workings of the Roman authorities, a commander's decision, an armed escort. God worked his protective purpose through the very officials and soldiers who happened to hold Paul, using them, unaware, to keep his servant safe. The protection came through unlikely, secular means, but it was God's protection nonetheless.

That is worth taking to heart, for God's protection of us can work through unexpected means and people. We can imagine God's protection must come dramatically, obviously, from heaven; but often it works quietly through ordinary means, through people and circumstances that seem to have nothing to do with him, as God protected Paul through a Roman commander and his soldiers. God is not limited to dramatic means to protect his own; he can work through the ordinary, the secular, the unlikely, to keep us safe. Do not imagine that God protects only through obvious, dramatic means; he can work his protection through unexpected people and circumstances, as he preserved Paul through the Roman authorities. Trust that God can protect you through means you would not expect, working his purposes through ordinary people and circumstances, as he preserved Paul, his servant, through a Roman officer's armed escort, keeping him safe for the testimony still ahead.

Lord, after a plot is uncovered to ambush and kill Paul, the Roman commander acts to protect him, and the protection is remarkable in scale: he assembles two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to escort Paul safely by night to Caesarea. A prisoner, threatened with death, is preserved through the very Roman authorities who held him. Your purpose that Paul should testify at Rome was being preserved, through the unlikely means of a Roman officer's protection. Show me how your protection of Paul worked through unexpected means. The threat was real; but you preserved your servant, not through some dramatic intervention from heaven, but through the ordinary workings of the Roman authorities. You worked your protective purpose through the very officials who happened to hold Paul, using them, unaware, to keep him safe. The protection came through unlikely, secular means, but it was your protection nonetheless. Take that to my heart, for your protection of me can work through unexpected means and people. I can imagine your protection must come dramatically, from heaven; but often it works quietly through ordinary means, through people and circumstances that seem to have nothing to do with you. You are not limited to dramatic means to protect your own. Keep me from imagining that you protect only through obvious, dramatic means; you can work your protection through unexpected people and circumstances, Lord. Help me trust that you can protect me through means I would not expect, as you preserved Paul through a Roman officer's armed escort.