Friday: God Has Plans for Those He Has Chosen
ACTS 22:6-29
6 "About
noon when I came near Damascus, a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed all around me. 7 I fell to the
ground and heard a voice saying, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' 8 I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' The voice said,
'I am Jesus from Nazareth whom you are persecuting.' 9 Those who were with me did not hear the voice, but they saw
the light. 10 I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' The Lord answered, 'Get up and go to Damascus. There you will be told about
all the things I have planned for you to do.' 11 I could not see, because the bright light had made me blind. So my
companions led me into Damascus. 12 "There a man named Ananias came to me. He was a religious man; he obeyed the
law of Moses, and all the Jews who lived there respected him. 13 He stood by me and said, 'Brother Saul, see again!'
Immediately I was able to see him. 14 He said, 'The God of our ancestors chose you long ago to know his plan, to see the
Righteous One, and to hear words from him. 15 You will be his witness to all people, telling them about what you have
seen and heard. 16 Now, why wait any longer? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, trusting in him to save you.'
17 "Later, when I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the Temple, and I saw a vision. 18 I saw the Lord saying to me,
'Hurry! Leave Jerusalem now! The people here will not accept the truth about me.' 19 But I said, 'Lord, they know that in
every synagogue I put the believers in jail and beat them. 20 They also know I was there when Stephen, your witness, was
killed. I stood there agreeing and holding the coats of those who were killing him!' 21 But the Lord said to me, 'Leave
now. I will send you far away to the non-Jewish people.'" 22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they began
shouting, "Kill him! Get him out of the world! He should not be allowed to live!" 23 They shouted, threw off their coats,
and threw dust into the air. 24 Then the commander ordered the soldiers to take Paul into the army building and beat
him. He wanted to make Paul tell why the people were shouting against him like this. 25 But as the soldiers were tying
him up, preparing to beat him, Paul said to an officer nearby, "Do you have the right to beat a Roman citizen who has
not been proven guilty?" 26 When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. The officer said, "Do
you know what you are doing? This man is a Roman citizen." 27 The commander came to Paul and said, "Tell me, are you
really a Roman citizen?" He answered, "Yes." 28 The commander said, "I paid a lot of money to become a Roman citizen."
But Paul said, "I was born a citizen." 29 The men who were preparing to question Paul moved away from him
immediately. The commander was frightened because he had already tied Paul, and Paul was a Roman citizen.
Old Testament Readings
6 Your
goodness is as high as the mountains.
Your justice is as deep as the great ocean.
Lord, you protect both people and animals.
7 God, your love is so precious!
You protect people in the shadow of your wings.
8 They eat the rich food in your house,
and you let them drink from your river of pleasure.
9 You are the giver of life.
Your light lets us enjoy life.
10 Continue to love those who know you
and to do good to those who are good.
11 Don't let proud people attack me
and the wicked force me away.
12 Those who do evil have been defeated.
They are overwhelmed;
they cannot do evil any longer.
Psalm 36:6-12
9 People
may make plans in their minds,
but the Lord decides what they will do.
Proverbs 16:9
11 I
say this because I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord. "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I
will give you hope and a good future. 12 Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen
to you. 13 You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me!
Jeremiah 29:11-13
9 You
saw that the walls of Jerusalem had many cracks that needed repairing. You stored up water in the lower pool.
10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you tore down houses to repair the walls with their stones. 11 You made a
pool between the two walls to save water from the old pool, but you did not trust the God who made these things; you
did not respect the One who planned them long ago.
Isaiah 22:9-11
1 Lord,
you are my God. I honor you and praise you, because you have done amazing things. You have always done what
you said you would do; you have done what you planned long ago.
Isaiah 25:1
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.”
Insights
Imagine yourself as Paul. How would you have taken the news that God had very different plans than what you had
chosen? Pray that in the future you will trust God’s plans and obey them as they are revealed to you. Vicki Darring