Acts 23:11 KJV
And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
No question, these were tense times for the Apostle. Though God had warned him and he was ready to be bound or to give his life for the cause of Christ, this would have indeed been stressful. His nerves must have been tried as he faced
- the jeers of the Jews
- the threats of the Romans and
- the multiplicity of answers to the counsel
Paul had nearly been torn apart that day by the opposing parties within Judaism. This night the Lord came to cheer him. It would be one of a handful of such visitations meant to strengthen him through these difficulties. God did not give him these sorts of visitations every night. And just because there was such a visitation was no sign that the pressure would ease up. It was after the visitation Paul learned of forty men who had sworn an oath to kill him. No, the pressure was still there but so was God's promise.
And so it must be with us.
We don't experience daily and constant miracles and manifestations of God. We do have times in our walk when we sense the unusually near presence of God. We have times when, in our personal times of devotion, God's Word becomes especially alive for us. There are times when a church service will be more than a little meaningful for us. These times are meant to cheer us and encourage us. They do not mean our battles are over. We faced trouble before and we will face them again. The "visitation" was only meant to encourage us on our way. What we do have in the middle of every trial is this assurance, God's promises are certain.
Go in the strength of that assurance.
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