Saturday, August 13, 2022

Exsurge | Get up

"Now get up and stand on your feet..." — Acts 26:16 (NIV)





In this passage, we read about the moment when God appointed Paul to become His servant and told him to stop the prosecution of people who believed and followed Jesus. The part that stood out to me the most was the part of Jesus' reply to Paul's question: “Who are you, Lord?”

First, God told Paul who He was. He gave Paul His name and emphasized that He was the one Paul was persecuting. After Paul learned that, he probably thought that he is going to die now because he was persecuting God Himself and he was going against the Lord and His people. But something completely different happens. God told Paul to get up and stand on his feet, He lifted Paul up from the ground and gave him a task. God appoints Paul as His servant and as a witness of God's mercy and endless love for His children. At that moment God also assured him that He would take care of him. 

The task is difficult but with God by your side, everything is possible. This shows how great our God is. When He gives us tasks or allows us to be in a difficult situation, we can be sure that as long as we have Him with us, we will be safe. If He gives us a task, He doesn't expect us to do everything on our own, He asks us to trust in Him, that He will guide and protect us. Sometimes we forget that we have God by our side and we try to complete a difficult task or find a way out of the difficult situation by ourselves, which leads to hardships, frustrations, and to hopelessness.

Let's never forget that we always have our God who is with us and gives us strength to get through anything, even if it seems impossible. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13)



Reflection on Acts 26:12-23 by Natalia Kowalska
(Listen to the Podcast here)

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