But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass that those who ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. (Numbers 33:55)

Therefore I also said, `I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, " (Judges 2:3)

It was a stormy night. Paul and his companion Luke were on board of a ship which was taking them to Rome. .

Luke who wrote the book of Acts wrote at this stage:

And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. (Acts 27:20)

They had given up all hope that they would be saved, all of them, including  Paul. He  was below  deck and he was praying. “Lord did You not say to me that You had sent me to be an apostle to the Gentiles and that I had to go to Rome…..” He remembered so well how the  disciple Ananias had been sent to him, after he had lost his sight when he had an encounter with Jesus and how this man had prayed for him and his sight had returned. God told him then through His servant that he had been called to preach the good news to the Gentiles first and then the Jews.

What went wrong? Why did this happen to him now? While he lay there praying, suddenly an angel appeared to him and this angel I believe was sent to him with a special message from God.

 Quite a few years ago I was asked to preach at a meeting  and the Lord told me not to prepare  a message, he would speak to me, once I was there. This was a meeting in the coloured area in Durban South Africa. While the people were singing I was waiting on the Lord to speak to me and suddenly I was on board of that ship and I saw Paul speaking with the angel.  And I heard what he said to Paul.

 Once when the Israelites were about to enter the promised land, God told them to destroy the inhabitants of the land and pull down their strongholds etc and if they did not do that those  which were left alive in the land would be like thorns in their sides and vex them in the land  where they were living. I believe that those nations represent thought patterns and habits from our old life. Strongholds which need to be pulled down so that we can live a victorious  life as Christians.

Paul had such a stronghold in his life . He was born in Tarsus and according to his birth certificate he was a Roman.  His name was Saul of Tarsus. I think that he was rejected while he was still young, by other Jewish boys, because according to them he was different and not a true Jew. The Romans were cruel  oppressors and the Jews hated them . I believe that Paul had a real complex about this and to make up for this , driven by  a desire to be accepted by his Jewish peers, he choose to become a super Jew, a Pharisee. A very zealous and fanatic Pharisee.

When Paul got saved, God actually told him that he was not a mistake and it was not by chance that he was born in Tarsus, because God  had appointed him an apostle to the Gentiles first and then the Jews.

This is also true in our own lives. God determines where we should live and He also prepares a body for us, just like He did for Jesus.

...but a body hast Thou prepared for Me. (Hebrews 10:5)

And He hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, (Acts17:26)

The Bible tells us that Jesus was made like us in all things.

Therefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, (Heb 2:17)

God carefully selected a  mother for Jesus.

I believe that none of us are mistakes! I can hear you saying: “What about the children that are born out of rape?” One of God’s names is REDEEMER. He redeems the mistakes we make. Because He knows everything, I believe He knew even before the world began that one day a child would be born out of rape and He made a plan for that child as well. God knew before time we would choose the wrong partner, not the one God had planned for us and again I believe that God made a plan for the children born out of such a marriage. I know this is true because of what I have read in Psalm 139.

For Thou hast possessed my inmost parts. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret, and intricately wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuity were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them. (Psalms 139:13,15-16)

When we follow Paul on his journeys, we see that in every town where he came, he first visited the synagogue. That part of his old life he had not dealt with, in his heart he still wanted to prove himself to the Jews and show them that he was a real Jew and  he still longed desperately to be accepted by them. And it was those Jews which rejected him and stoned him and left him for dead and followed him from city to city to stir up trouble.  Rejection can be so hurtful, as we all know.

We  are the last ones who will know what is really going on deep in our hearts. Our own heart deceives us.  Paul said to the Corinthians that his heart did not condemn him, then he said, “but that does not make me innocent” and he added: “wait until the Lord comes, he will show us what is in our hearts. (1 Cor 4:4,5).”

I believe the suffering caused by this rejection and persecution from those he so desperately wanted to be accepted by, was his real thorn in the flesh ….until God shone His light on that  thing in his heart and set him free.

 On his way to Jerusalem, God had spoken to him 4 times, prophetically, warning him what would wait him if he insisted on going to Jerusalem. God wanted him to go to Rome.

But  he said:’ I will go, I am prepared to suffer for the Gospel.’’ He was sincere, but in this case he was not going to Jerusalem for the sake of the Gospel, but because “that thing” in his heart drove him to Jerusalem to take part in the festivities there  and religious rituals . Once again he wanted to prove that he was a real Jew after all. The rest of the story we know. Humanly speaking he actually made a detour and nearly missed God’s purpose for his life.

This is the story the angel told him, that he had made a detour and Paul’s eyes were opened and he repented. Then the angel told him that it was God’s plan and purpose for him to go to Rome.

When we make a detour in our lives, unfortunately we often take other people with us. Jonah also experienced that and I believe that Paul must have asked God to have mercy on the people on board of that ship, so that they would not need to perish because of him. God answered him and told him, if they would listen to Paul and do as they were told, their lives would be saved.

From my own experience I also know that when we try and turn around from the wrong turns we take in this life, that the enemy will do his utmost to destroy us. He nearly had us and doesn’t give up without a struggle.

We know how the story goes, when they were on the island a viper jumped out of the fire they had made and fastened itself onto Paul’s hand. But Paul had heard from God and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was going to Rome and so all he did was shake his hand and the serpent fell off and he was not affected by its bite.  Wow! God’s faitfulness reaches to the heavens!  Doesn’t that make you excited? I know that Paul repented because later on when he was in Rome he wrote to the Philippians about it.

though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath grounds to trust in the flesh, I have more:  circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; according to the law, a Pharisee;  concerning zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness before the law, blameless.  But what things were gain to me, those I counted as loss for Christ.  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but dung, that I may win Christ  and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith,  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death,  that if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.  It is not as though I had already attained it, nor were already perfect; but I follow after, that I may seize hold of that for which Christ Jesus also seized hold of me.  Brethren, I count not myself to have possessed it, but this one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:4-14)

God made a plan for our lives, even before we were formed in our mother’s womb, just like He did for Saul of Tarsus.. We are NO MISTAKE! God is in control.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath beforehand ordained, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

It doesn’t matter what race we are or where we come from. God has a perfect plan for each one of us . It is for us now to seek His face and find out His purpose for our lives and then go and do what He tells us  to do.

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37:5) Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding;  in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)  

Froukje, 12th August 2000.