Acts 22:19-21
And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ 21 And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”
It is a famous story that Corrie Ten Boom was given the grace to forgive a prison guard at the concentration camp where her sister died. Many were skeptical that anyone could be that forgiving. One person who was just as skeptical about this miracle centuries before was Paul. He had a very good reason. He persecuted the church and then was told by the Lord Jesus to be a witness to him. He would face opposition in Jerusalem but it was God’s grace to send him to the Gentiles. Paul would later be able to relate these acts of forgiveness in his letters as the grace of God. He could now see how Stephen’s martyrdom was used to lead the triumph of the gospel to the end of the earth.
We may not be able to see how our trouble and trial can be used to further the kingdom of God and change lives. Perhaps like Stephen, we never will. But we can rest assured that the advancement of the kingdom will happen, the church will be built, and lives will be changed/ God will use our challenges to bring that about. Today, let us thank him for these challenges and submit to the only one in history…
Who overcame them.