“What if”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Acts 23:12-24 (Forward, p. 67) CEV p. 1164

It is one of those strange quirks of history, one of those incredible and unknowable ‘what ifs’. More than forty men had plotted together that they would neither eat nor drink anything until they had managed to kill Paul. And, furthermore, they set in motion a plan to ensure that this would happen, namely convincing the Jewish Sanhedrin to ask the Roman commander to have Paul brought before them. Their pretence was that they needed to examine him more closely as to the charges against him. Meanwhile this secretive band of men would be waiting in hiding on route to ambush Paul and kill him.

However, Paul’s nephew somehow heard of the plot and managed to convey the news to Paul. Paul then sent the young man to the commander with this information and the commander immediately took steps to remove Paul in the dark of the night to safer quarters in Caesarea Maritima. The would-be plot is hitherto nipped in the bud.

But then, the ‘wat ifs’ set in. What if the nephew had not overheard the plotters or somehow got wind of it? What if he or Paul had not taken it seriously? What if the nephew had not managed to get through to Paul, or to the commander? And what if the commander had considered it a hoax, a fabrication, and actually acceded to the Sanhedrin’s request? History could have been very different. Paul would have never been sent to Rome and would never have continued his missionary work both there and on route.

But then, we will never know. And we will never know the answer to many other ‘what ifs’. We will never know what would have happened if we had chosen other options or made other decisions during the course of our lifetimes. Or, if our experiences or circumstances had been different.

All we can do is to seek to be faithful to God, seeking to know His will and carry it out, and then riding with the circumstances as best we can, trusting that He will bring the right thing to pass. So, we can skip with the ‘what ifs’, knowing that ultimately they are quite useless and unproductive. Instead, we should simply trust the Lord. Amen.

Forward note: “Now the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush; so he went and gained entrance to the barracks and told Paul” (verse 16).

“Amid the intrigue surrounding Paul and a plot to kill him, we meet his nephew, the son of his sister. Wait, what? Paul had a sister? What about the rest of his family?

“My wife often quotes her mother, ‘Who are his people?’ This is important because who your people are can say something about who you are. And like Paul and his nephew, who your people are can provide an early alert system.

“For us today, that system might be asking hard questions: Are you sure that’s the right decision? Do you really want to go that far away to college? Are you going down the wrong path?

“Our people often have our backs, sometimes without us even knowing it. Perhaps a relative notices you are struggling and prays daily for you. Or maybe a family member puts in a good word with a prospective employee or community member. In Paul’s case, with so much on the line, his relative’s intervention was a lifesaver.”

Moving Forward: “Is there a family member who could use your support? How can you help?”