God's Ways are Higher than My Ways

Scripture:
Acts 25:11 — “If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.”
 
Observation:
Festus has now succeeded Felix as governor of Judea. The Jewish leaders are still plotting to kill Paul and have approached Festus to help them by sending Paul back to Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders are plotting to assassinate Paul as he travels. Festus wants to do the Jews a favor, so he tries to get Paul to agree to go back to Jerusalem to face the tribunal there. Paul is not afraid to die if he were guilty; however he smells a rat and makes a wise move. You see, Paul is a Roman citizen by birth (Acts 22:28) which is rather uncommon in that day. As a Roman citizen, Paul could exercise certain rights, such as requesting a hearing before Caesar’s tribunal. This would force Festus to send Paul safely off to Rome, and this was certainly looking like Paul’s best option. Although Paul was acting to save himself, I also remember Jesus appearing to Paul in Acts 23:11, telling him to take courage and that he must be a witness in Rome. A real twist is coming in chapter 26 when it is revealed that if Paul had not requested the appeal to Caesar, he would have been set free and avoided the whole trial in Rome.
 
Application:
It seems that whenever trouble comes, I will almost always end up begging God to get me out of the pinch. I mean surely God would not intentionally put me in bad circumstances, so why not focus on getting a little divine help out of a bind – am I right? And what about Paul, he decided to take his chances by going to Rome – wasn’t that a bad call in hindsight? I would kick myself a thousand times for that one … he could have been free. Yet as I look at Paul’s circumstances, he made a wise decision based on the facts in front of him at that moment. It was God’s sovereign plan that would send Paul to Rome in order to be His witness in the capitol city of the most powerful nation on earth. That seemingly bad circumstance was not some sort of punishment from God, it was not the result of a bad decision by Paul, nor was it a situation that Paul should try to wiggle out of. Instead Paul rested in God’s sovereignty and followed God’s plan on to Rome. Worldly wisdom could never understand bad circumstances being in God’s good plan. I need to look for God’s wisdom and sovereign purpose in every circumstance rather than focusing on how I am going to make things better for myself.
 
Prayer:
Lord, help me to see your unfolding purpose in every circumstance of life. I want to learn to focus on you and your plan, not on me.  Your ways are higher than my ways and I submit myself to the wisdom of your eternal plan. Please give me your wisdom Lord and help me not to lean on my own understanding.  Thank you for being in control. I rest in you.  
 
— Chuck Newton, missions mobilization pastor