Decisive Action

Acts 9:123-25 (ESV) – When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

Acts 9 opens with Paul (then Saul) meeting Jesus in a supernatural encounter. The narrative then moves to Ananias’s vision of Jesus to restore Paul’s sight and give him the rest of his mission. With a start like this, we might expect everything in Paul’s ministry from this point forward to be similarly supernatural, yet he had not even left Damascus before he met his first crisis without clear divine guidance. The Jewish leaders in town did not like how he persuasively preached Jesus as the Son of God. They laid a plot to capture Paul and destroy him.

Notice that the Bible does not say Paul had a supernatural vision or prophecy that let him know about this. God could have destroyed those lying in wait, perhaps with a lightning bolt, but that did not happen. The text does not even show specific divine direction in how Paul and the rest of the Christians chose to act. It seems they just knew they had a crisis that required immediate action, they looked at what they had available (a basket big enough to hold Paul), and decided on a plan to get Paul free. Dropping him over the city wall away from the guarded gate at night meant the guards who sought his life would not be able to see him. The plan worked and freed Paul to continue his ministry.

Crises usually require decisive action. Leaders often emerge in these times by recognizing the situations, the cost of doing nothing, and the opportunities that a good decision can bring. Paul’s solution required cooperation from the rest of the Christians. Perhaps they brainstormed the idea. They certainly worked together to drop Paul in his basket.

Don’t let a crisis paralyze you in indecision. Certainly, be open to divine guidance, but be ready to make the best decision you can with what you have available and don’t hesitate to invite some people to help you decide and make your decision a reality.