Paul: Of Mice and Men

Since I have been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through, and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. Romans 15:23-24

The best laid plans o’ Mice and Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy
wrote Robert Burns. And most of us – although we might not know the exact meaning of the Scots word agley – know what he meant. In spite of believing in God’s providence and guidance, our best-laid plans frequently go agley. We might assume that Paul – that great man of God – had no such problems. But we’d be wrong.

The churches in Macedonia and Achaia had made generous gifts, which Paul was taking for the relief of the believers in Jerusalem. But thinking ahead to his next journey, he confidently planned to go to Rome and then on to Spain. Even as he travelled towards Jerusalem, however, the omens were not good. In every city, he told the Ephesians, the Spirit warned him of imprisonment and hardship (Eph.20:23), and prophetic voices reinforced these warnings. So it was hardly a surprise when, on reaching Jerusalem, he was arrested, and handed over into the custody of the Romans.

What, then, of his plans - plans, no doubt, made in faith and with prayer?

Paul did reach Rome – though not in the way he expected. As far as we know, he never got to Spain. But towards the end of his life he was able to claim that he had ‘finished the course’ (2 Tim.4:7).

How liberating it is to know that we can amply fulfil our calling even when things turn out differently from our hopes and expectations. Disappointment, failure, tragedy – everything from revolution to a broken ankle – may make our plans go agley, and sometimes change the whole course of our lives. But the Lord, who can see so far beyond our horizons, is constantly at work to achieve his purposes in other ways and through other people.

And even in redundancy and disability…(and I would add 'retirement'...Mike)no Christian is redundant in God’s economy, and no Christian is disabled from blessing others.

Helen Parry (LICC)