God is truth and He has a plan

Acts 16:16-24

¹⁶ One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”

¹⁸ This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.

¹⁹ Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. ²⁰ “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. ²¹ “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.”

²² A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. ²³ They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. ²⁴ So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.

Sharing the truth of God isn’t always easy and convenient, but He always has a plan.

The demon possessed girl in this passage clearly shares insights into the future with great accuracy and truth. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have been able to earn her masters a living. When she then begins declaring that the disciples are servants of the Most High God, she is speaking out a truth, as with her accurate fortune telling. This would have told the people they interacted with that their God was truly the Most High God, and so that their revolutionary message was also truth.

But also, it would have been very annoying. To have someone follow you around yelling the same thing over and over for days on end must have been truly frustrating. And we see this in Paul’s human nature as he gets sick of the demon within the girl and so casts it out in Jesus’ name. This goes to further show that our God is indeed the Most High God who has power over all, demons included.

Frustrated with their loss of income, the slave owners take to the courts which results in Paul and Silas being thrown in prison on account of sharing outlawed teachings and practices. The truth of God is truly countercultural and revolutionary. Although it is unlikely you would be jailed for sharing God’s truth in Australia, it is an important reminder that sometimes sharing this truth isn’t easy or convenient.

But we can have confidence because we know that God always has a plan. Even when things don’t go how we expect and it can seem like all hope is lost, as it would have done for Paul and Silas, we know that the Most High God (the same God that can cast out demons) is with us.

Lord you are so powerful! You truly are the Most High God! Help me to share this truth today, and know that you are with me in, and have a plan, in every situation. Amen!

Written by Ps. Tim Cornell