9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.
There are only a few times when the Lord talks to people in their dreams in the Scriptures. To me that means they were a rare occurrence. Most of our dreams are an accumulation of the experiences of the previous days that are getting sorted and cataloged in our minds. Once they get sorted they get integrated into all the other memories of our lives. That is why we often can figure out where some of the parts of these dreams come from and how are connected. God does sometimes speak directly to His people in dreams, but it is very rare indeed. Paul has an even rarer occurrence, a vision. During this night God shows up while he is still awake and reveals Himself and part of Paul’s future. Paul has had difficulty with some of his audiences lately. They have been forcefully ejecting him from their cities. That is why this message in the vision is so powerful. Paul is told that he will be safe in this town and will be able to spend some time preaching without the previous interference. What a change for Paul. He gets to stay put and spend time preaching and teaching. Notice the three commands Paul is given. First, don’t fear. Paul must have had some fear for the Lord to command him not to fear. We rarely think of Paul being afraid, but he must have been. We get afraid sometimes and that is OK. God made us with fear as a natural reaction to some circumstances. But we aren’t supposed to live in fear. It is bad for us spiritually and physically. Soldiers coming back from combat often feel the leftovers of fear, the fear that kept them alive. Paul is then told to speak. I never thought of Paul having difficulty speaking, but he must have needed the push at this point. Then Paul is told to not keep silent. These are all connected together. If Paul is afraid he will not speak and will keep silent. But when the fear is lifted it does not mean he automatically speaks. God wants us to listen to His voice. Rarely will it come in a vision or a dream. But He is always speaking through His Word and by His Spirit. Listen and obey today.
The Arnold Journey 