God at work in the unexplainable

Acts 20:7-12

⁷ On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. ⁸ The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. ⁹ As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. ¹⁰ Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” ¹¹ Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. ¹² Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.

What a random event in the record of Acts. A kid falls out of third story window whilst listening to Paul, and dies. 

What a shocking event! Yet even in the apparently random, grossly unfortunate, unexplainable event that this was, God works His good purpose. And Paul is his man for the moment.

Maybe he initially experienced shock. Maybe he was thrown by the moment for a moment. But just as quickly Paul is into action, and into a place of faith-filled action. 

God worked in this random event a glorious miracle, and great comfort for His people.

What challenges me most is Paul’s readiness to go to a place of faith in the midst of apparently random and unfortunate events. I think about my life, and my week, and there are often apparently random or unfortunate events that take place. Not necessarily young men falling out of windows and dying right in front of me. But needs of others coming up that I hadn’t planned to attend to. Unfortunate news such as sickness or troubles in lives around me or simply interruptions to my day that I couldn’t have controlled but now have to deal with.

And the example of Paul calls me to quickly go to a place of faith. God is at work here. God has got a plan for this moment. God can put his goodness on display. God’s got a miracle in store. Rather than shock, or disappointment, or throwing my hands up in the air. God wants faith.

God, help me to quickly move to faith, no matter what circumstances might take place in this day.

By Ps. Rob Waugh