October 31: Acts 5 33-39

Key Verse: Acts 5 39
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.

Devotion:
These words from Gamaliel are quite profound. He was a pharisee and we see in so many places how the Pharisees were working against Jesus and the disciples, but here the disciples lives are being spared – God can and does use people for His good and His ways!

When people go ahead and try to persuade those around them of a  new way or new product, things are going to collapse in a heap when the truth comes out. But if they are telling the truth, chances are things will look pretty good for them in the end. All this is assuming we are not trying to tell people something they do not want to hear! The more we try to persuade people against their will, the more they will object and fight against what we are saying. When we share the gospel with people, we are going to face some who will continue to reject our words and object to us being around because of this.

Jesus showed us time and time again how He continued to share the gospel even though those around Him were wanting to believe their own ways instead of the truth! This is not something new we will face but it is something we do have to face! When those objectors find out the truth in the end they will realise they have been working against God – and we can only hope they find out the truth before it is too late for them.

There will be times in our lives when we are going to have to face whole communities which seem to be working against God – in these time we have to stand up to the truth and continue to give people the chance of seeing the truth. At these times we need to allow God’s words to speak for themselves because it is His words which will be able to persuade people where we fail. Trust in the truth and pray people will accept that truth…

Points to Ponder:
Have you had to face up to a hostile crowd?

Do you trust God will be able to make His words known?