A Face Like Flint

October 27

(Acts 21:1-6 NIV) “After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. {2} We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. {3} After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. {4} Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. {5} But when our time was up, we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. {6} After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.”

(Acts 21:10-12 NIV) “After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. {11} Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” {12} When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.”

(Acts 20:23 NIV) “I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.”

(Isaiah 50:7 NIV) “Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.”

The prophet Isaiah once said that he had set his face like flint and would not be disgraced. Today we see Paul ignore the pleadings of friends, set his face like flint, and head for Jerusalem. The prophet Agabus warned Paul that he would be bound and imprisoned by the Gentiles. But Paul already knew that “prison and hardships” faced him wherever he went (Acts 20:23). He had looked death in the face several times and not flinched. He had counted the cost and was willing to pay it. Paul went to Jerusalem with full knowledge of what awaited him there. The counsel of friends and family can be good, but often they love us more than they love God, and they want us to love them more than we love God. They worry more about our personal safety than about the mission God has given us. Paul’s friends forgot that he loved Jesus more than he loved his life. We are called to that same love! -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day