Sometimes the Lord steps into our lives and changes our plans in order to accomplish His purpose. Paul is a great example of this. When Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the church, God intervened (Acts 9). He had a greater purpose in mind for Paul.

After Paul’s First Missionary Journey, he thought it would be a good idea to go back to the places where he had established groups of believers to see how they were doing and encourage them. So that is what he set out to do.

Acts 16:6–10 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Paul thought he should concentrate his missionary activities in the places he had already been. So far, his ministry had been confined to Palestine and Asia Minor. In his first journey, Paul concentrated his efforts around Galatia. As he now began his second missionary journey, logic and common sense suggested that he expand on the work he had already started. After all, he had made a good beginning there. But when he tried to go to Asia, the western province of Asia minor, the Spirit told him not to go there. When he then tried to go to Bithynia, also in Asia Minor, the Spirit once again intervened and said no.  Probably feeling frustrated, Paul went to Troas to wait.  It was there that he had the vision of the man from Macedonia begging come over to Macedonia and help us. This vision convinced Paul that Macedonia was the place to go. That is where God wanted him, rather than where he himself had intended to go.

God’s call to Macedonia through that vision changed the direction of Paul’s life in order to fulfill God’s greater purpose. He was to take the Gospel to new places.  From Troas, a town on the Aegean Sea, Paul would sail over to Macedonia, which was in northern part of Greece. The Good News of Jesus was going to Europe!

Something subtle but interesting is in this passage. Prior to Acts 16:10 Luke used the plural pronoun “they” when talking about Paul and Silas. In verse 10, when speaking is sailing from Troas to Greece, he starts using the pronoun “we.” Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, is now one of Paul’s traveling companions. Together they would proclaim God how God had worked out our forgiveness and eternal life through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus.

Can you think of times in your life in which God had a plan in mind for you that was completely different from your own preferences or wishes? I know this has been true in my life. If someone had told me in the 1983 that the next year I would be serving a congregation in Watonga, Oklahoma, after asking where that was, I would have dismissed it as nonsense. That was not where I saw myself heading. Yet God used me there for a season to share His message and lead those people in a ministry of Word and Sacraments. When I accepted to call to serve Grace Lutheran in Denison, Texas three and a half years later, if someone had told me that would be the place I would stay until I retired, I would not have believed it. But that is how God chose to use me in ministry.

These kinds of things happen in your lives, too.  An unplanned visit to the hospital might give you the opportunity to show your patience in the face of suffering, which may then lead others to inquire about your faith. A missed flight at the airport may give you the chance to confront someone with the need for a Savior. A sudden reversal in your own personal fortune can cause you to realize that God is, after all, in control.  Just as God reached into Paul’s life to accomplish His purpose, so He sometimes reaches into our lives and sends us off in a totally new direction to accomplish His ends.