Ephesians 3:1,2
“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you;“
This isn’t common. Paul was aware of the reason for his imprisonment. It was for the sake of the Gentiles. He never feared it. He was warned on several occasions that his actions would put him in jail. Acts 20:22-24 ‘“And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.’ He felt as though it was part of what God wanted him to do. So, here he is writing from a prison cell to the Ephesians (Gentiles). He’s ok with it. He wasn’t complaining. He also wasn’t blaming them. He accepted it as part of God’s will. The wisdom in this is that it gave Paul time to write letters to the churches. This was a large fraction of the books in the New Testament. Because of this the Ephesians had Pauls words with them always and more importantly all of us have his words as long as we have a bible.
How do we respond to the difficulties we encounter? We usually don’t know the purpose, but that shouldn’t matter. If we are believers who entrust God to guide, then we need to have faith in all our circumstances. In Philipians 4:11-13 Paul says, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.…” This is from another letter that he wrote from prison. He learned that God will care for him. So, also we need to learn to be trusting. We can do all things through Christ. Our attitude needs to mirror this. We shouldn’t be grumbling or discontent. More than that, I Thessalonians 5:16 says to “Rejoice always”. Lord, help us to trust You in all things. To trust to the point where we are rejoicing.
Thank You, Lord for Your great goodness.