Unlimited: Pray That I May be Kept Safe from the Unbelievers
Dec 15, 2023 585
Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contributionI take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there (Romans 15:31).
This verse illustrates an important reality that we all know but often don’t like to acknowledge. It is that God doesn’t always answer our prayer the way we would like.
Paul knows that he has many powerful enemies in Judea, both among the Jews and among his fellow Christian believers. Paul knows the mortal dangers to which he will be exposed by travelling to Judaea. He knows that the Jerusalem church leadership views him so negatively, that it is possible that they might reject the gift of money that he is bringing from the Gentiles to those believers suffering in the famine in Judaea.
God doesn’t always answer our prayer the way we would like.
Paul is praying that he be kept safe from them, and he asks the church in Rome to pray for this as well. We may assume that he was also asking other believers, wherever he travelled, to pray for his safety in Jerusalem. But it was not to be.
God had other plans. He was going to allow Paul to be arrested in Jerusalem and to become a prisoner for the final years of his life, and then to die a martyr’s death.
Why did God not answer Paul’s prayers? Hadn’t Paul been struggling in prayer about this? Hadn’t the believers in the Gentile churches rallied to Paul’s call, praying with him that he might be protected?
Spiritual Application
God had different plans for Paul than what he had planned for himself. How will you respond if that is true for your life also? What if God intends to allow you to pass through suffering? Will you still be willing to trust him like Paul did?
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