Acts 7:54-60
New International
Version (NIV)
54 When the members of the
Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the
Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing
at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see
heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered
their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the
city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the
feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning
him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his
knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had
said this, he fell asleep.
How much do we
love one another? Stephen obviously
loves these people very much but yet they rejected him. They did not listen to his words even though
the words he spoke were true words, straight from the Bible; in fact, they were
God’s words. Why do you think that God
did not save Stephen on that dreadful day?
Or did He save him?
I found it
interesting that even in his death Stephen prayed a prayer much like
Jesus. Stephen did not only hear the
words of Jesus, he lived them out.
Stephen was rewarded for his faithfulness by seeing the glory of God and
Jesus at the right hand of God. He was
able to endure this suffering. While
doing so, showed continued love for these people by asking God to forgive
them. He also had the assurance of God
receiving his spirit all because he was full of the Holy Spirit in him.
Stephen never
let his guard down. He did not pray to
God to save him from this mob. He did
not question whether it was right or wrong for him to be treated like he was
being treated. I am sure he did not like
the feel of the stones being thrust upon his body. Yet, he kept his focus on God, not on man,
not on pain, not on suffering. He knew
his redeemer and he could see Him waiting at the gates for him.
If God would
have struck all of those people down at the time of the stoning, a young man by
the name of Saul would not have ever had the opportunity to be a witness for
the Lord. What a blessing to know that
God is there for us, even when we do not feel like he is. Let us continue to seek Him and not be the
stiff-necked people, wanting only for us and not recognizing the guidance of
the Holy Spirit within us.
Seeking Him with
all my heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment