Exasperated

We are currently following Paul’s second missionary journey. There is a link in the “sites” section that will allow you to interactively track his journey.

Acts 16
16 One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.” 18 This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her. 19 Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. 20 “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. 21 “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.” 22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.


Exasperated. What pushed Paul to the point of exasperation? Was it the annoying … “day after day” … factor? Was it the fact that she was being exploited? Was it the evil that had taken hold of her life and enslaved her? I guess it really doesn’t matter. I think the more important question is why (too often) do we have to be exasperated to actually fight for change … in our own lives or the lives of those around us. It is like we become numb … lulled into a state of apathy … toward the hurt and the brokenness and the evil that surround us. My prayer is that God would stir change within me … a desire for spiritual transformation (for myself and for the people that surround me) … before I am exasperated.