Day 247: Acts 14:8–20

When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the form of men!” (v. 11).

Do you ever wonder why God doesn’t more often perform miraculous works? Have you thought, “Just one good miracle would turn this place upside down”? If so, consider what happened here. Paul and Barnabas proceeded to the city of Lystra and began to preach the good news. There they encountered and healed a man who had been crippled from birth. Because of the miracle, the crowd began to declare: “The gods have come down to us in the form of men!” (Acts 14:11 hcsb). Not exactly the result the pair desired.

The crowd brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates of Lystra to offer sacrifices to Barnabas and Paul as gods. Because of an old Greek myth, the people of Lystra were afraid not to honor Paul and Barnabas. For generations a story about two Greek gods who visited earth had circulated among the people of Lystra. The two gods were met with scorn except for one poverty-stricken couple who showed them hospitality. According to the myth, the gods cursed the people but gave the couple an opulent palace. The people of Lystra were taking no chances in case these gods had returned.

We have already seen a vital fact about Paul and Barnabas: they were smart! Now we witness a second description of both men at critical moments: they were sincere. They rushed into the crowd, tearing their clothes, declaring themselves mere men.

The sincerity of Paul and Barnabas is refreshingly obvious. They not only tore their clothes in grief because the people had made such a preposterous assumption, but they wasted no time in setting the record straight. They did not capitalize on a moment’s glory. They did not use their attentions to get a good home-cooked meal. They rushed out to the crowd, shouting, “Men! Why are you doing these things? We are men also, with the same nature as you” (v. 15 hcsb).

We all know that human beings are indescribably fickle. One minute we are laying palm branches in the road and crying, “Hosanna in the highest.” The next minute we are crying, “Crucify Him,” or, “I never knew Him.” So it was with the adoring crowd at Lystra. One minute they were preparing to worship Paul and Barnabas. “Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they had won over the crowds and stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead” (v. 19 hcsb).

That didn’t take long, did it? Think about this carefully: Barnabas and Paul could have used the crowd’s wrong impression that they were gods, but they maintained their integrity. A flashy miracle at just the right time, and not one stone would have been thrown. The crowd would have bowed at their feet. Paul and Barnabas could have slipped out of town without a scratch. Instead, Paul was stoned so severely that they dragged him outside the city thinking he was dead.

Can you imagine the pictures flashing in Paul’s mind with every blow of a stone? I’m sure his memory replayed Stephen’s radiant face. Paul probably could not bear to think of himself worthy to die for the name of Christ in the same way. He probably fell unconscious thinking he was about to breathe his last, but this was not Paul’s time.

Paul and Barnabas had arrived in Iconium with joyful anticipation, only to have to depart quickly under threat of stoning. They had escaped one of the most painful forms of punishment ever devised. They wiped their brows, gave a sigh of relief, and headed into Lystra. But before they knew what had happened, the stones were flying. They had no place to run, nowhere to hide.

Many years later Paul still remembered the events in Iconium and Lystra and shared a peculiar testimony. He said, “You, however, know all about . . . what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them” (2 Tim. 3:10–11).

Any person in his or her right mind would prefer to be rescued before the first stone is thrown, not after the last! Yet Paul described both his experience in Iconium (where he departed prior to suffering) and his experience in Lystra (where he departed after suffering) as the Lord’s divine rescue. Perhaps his inspired choice of words will intensify your appreciation of his exquisite testimony. The original word for “rescue” in 2 Timothy 3:11 is rhuomai, which is derived from a word meaning “to drag along the ground.” Rhuomai means “to draw or snatch from danger, rescue, deliver.” Please read the remainder of the definition with great care and meditation: “This is more with the meaning of drawing to oneself than merely rescuing from someone or something.”

You see, God wasn’t only interested in drawing Paul out of difficulty or danger. He wanted to draw Paul closer to Himself. Every time God delivers us, the point is ultimately to draw us closer to Himself. Whether we get to avoid pain and suffering or we must persevere in the midst of it, our deliverance comes when we’re dragged from the enemy of our souls to the heart of God.