Forbidden for something better...

In Acts 16:6, we see the Apostle Paul and his crew rolling through various towns sharing the Good News. Town after town we see they are generally welcomed and effective in speaking but in 16b, it says:

"...they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia."

This holy hand-in-the-face continues in verse 7:

"When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them."

Forbidden?

Not allowed?

So many questions come out of this...like:

How did this invisible Spirit forbid them? And why?

What was up with Asia and why didn't the Spirit want one of the church's A-Teams to go there?

What did Paul think of this--was he happy because maybe they had bad coffee? Was he bummed because his cousin Larry lived there?

Would going to Asia cause some international incident or would it prevent one?

The real question behind all of these...and the one I get stuck on in my own life is:

"What if?"

What if I had bought that house?

What if I hadn't been laid off?

What if my spouse hadn't...?

What if my kids would've?

Like most people--and maybe like you, my head and my heart get lost in what could've been. Yesterday's a relentless hound dog. And I tend to feel my way through these losses and potentialities. We have this incessant need for closure in all things big and small and want to camp out and think through and discuss these questions to get to some resolution...but it never comes. We look for "I'm sorry's" and "Well done's" and "You were right's". And they rarely come.

But still we camp out and wait for answers to come and to sit in what could've been.

That's an option Paul and his crew had too. But they do what I don't - they just keep walking. We're not told if he had these questions (I like to think he did). We're not told if they had those questions because they're just not relevant to the story and here's the truth:

They're ot relevant to ours either. God is truly the God of yesterday and tomorrow but He exists and calls us to follow Him in the right now. Those questions, as alluring and natural as they are - are simply not relavnt to your story or mine. We're called to just keep walking.

For Paul, he continues to walk and and a short time later, the answer comes to him in perfect time. We can read the rest of Acts and see the awesome things that came out of NOT going to Asia. It's hard to argue with the plan but in light of the rest of Acts, those questions now seem almost silly.

The lesson here for me--and maybe you: is when the Lord says NO...or it's equally-frustrating cousin NOT YET, just keep moving. The mission hasn't changed. The Master hasn't changed. The plan hasn't changed...there's just other work to be done in other ways in other places in other times.

Just keep walking.

Walk with questions. Walk with feelings. Walk with the wonderings and what-ifs. But just keep walking.

And as you do, trust the whole of scripture: that the One who created is the One who planned is the One who redeems is the One who is calling you forward. Onward to something better...even if you can't see it.

Yet.