Night Vision

“Then the Lord said to Paul in a night vision, ‘Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.’” (Acts 18:9-10 CSB)

Corinth was a city of free moral license, a place of volatility. By the time Paul was working there, he was a very experienced missionary. He had been stoned, whipped, imprisoned, and run out of town on more than one occasion. Still, he persisted, and continued to press forward with the truth of the gospel. For reasons we may not perceive, something was different for him in Corinth. The fact that the Lord appeared to him in a dream to tell him to not be afraid makes it clear that Paul had some hesitations because of fear. This fear seems to have been connected to Paul’s physical well being, and it was at least significant enough that the Lord had to appear to him in a night vision to shake him out of it. He apparently had been holding back and being silent when he should have been speaking. So, the Lord gave Paul His personal assurance that no one in Corinth would lay a hand on him. The outcome, as we know, is that Paul stayed on in Corinth for about 18 months teaching the word of the Lord.

Fear is an interesting emotion, a God-given emotion that is designed to protect us, but sometimes it does its job too well. It can displace priorities that must not be displaced. Fear can keep us from speaking the truth of the gospel when it really needs to be spoken. The difficulty with fear is that it is a personal perception about a situation based on what the appearances are, but those appearances may not necessarily represent the actual reality. In dealing with fear, we need to do one of at least two things: 1) either we need to examine the appearances thoroughly to establish whether fear is well-founded or not, or 2) we need to take our fears to the Lord and seek His guidance and counsel in whether to allow it to have its impact on us or not. Whether one of these approaches or others, we cannot simply allow fear to have an unfounded impact. Too much is at stake for that.

Father, We admit that sometimes fear keeps us from speaking when we know we should speak. Help us to know how to deal with these fears, so that we can know truly when to speak and when not to, based on the leading of Your Spirit and not our fears. Amen.