LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Riding on the Storm
"…they gathered together in this city against your holy Son Jesus…Herod and Pontius Pilate…to do whatever your hand and your counsel had before determined to happen" (Acts 4:27-28).
The sentence ends the opposite of what common sense would say. We would expect to read like this: "Against your holy Son Jesus Herod and Pilate united to twist the course of your divine will". Instead, we read: "Against your holy Son Jesus Herod and Pilate united to do whatever your hand and your counsel had before determined to happen". The idea is that their effort to oppose God's will proved to be a coup of alliance with it. The measures they took to ruin the ship became the way to ensure that it stayed afloat.
They colluded in a court martial against Christ; but, without being aware of it, they signed a treaty for the promotion of the glory of Christ. They thought they were making a will in favor of the enemies of Christ; and they were really leaving all their wealth to the Man of Nazareth. They decreed that he must die, but that decree was his contribution of palm fronds.
My brother, God never frustrates adverse circumstances; that is not his method. I am often struck by these words: "He rides on the wings of the wind". They are very suggestive. Our God does not abate the storms that rise up against him; he rides on them, he works through them.
We are often surprised that so many thorny paths are allowed to be opened for the good: how Joseph, the dreaming boy, is put in a dungeon; how that beautiful boy Moses is thrown into the Nile. You would have expected Providence to stop the opening of those trenches destined for destruction. Well, he could have done so; he could have said to the storm: “Stop!”. But there was a more excellent way - to ride on it. (George Matheson).