Acts 11:18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
I remember being in Romania doing some missions work with orphans, and the washing machine was broken. I know nothing about washing machines, other than you plug them in, connect them to water, load the clothes and soap, and then turn it on. Magically, the clothes end up folded in my closet.
The permanent missionaries didn’t know what to do. Neither did I. But then, the LORD just dropped into my spirit, “water level sensor.” That was weird. Where did that come from?
But I listened. I told those who were there trying to figure out what was wrong, “It is the water level sensor.” I told them I felt like the LORD had just dropped that into my spirit.
So we went to the appliance parts store, picked up a “water level sensor” and put it into the machine. IT WORKED! That was weird. How did that happen?
Our text comes at the end of a report that Peter gave about what the LORD had done through him with Cornelius. The disciples in Jerusalem were concerned about this outreach to Gentile peoples, and they wanted to know what had happened. Peter shared the miraculous nature of that series of encounters with God, both his and Cornelius’.
Back when I was training to be a hospital chaplain in San Antonio, TX, I was walking the hallway one day. I saw one of the nurses that I had gotten to know during my time there. I can’t remember how the encounter started, but she shared that she and her husband had been trying to have children, but they had been unsuccessful. And this weighed heavy on her heart that day.
I felt prompted, so I asked her, “Do you want me to pray for you?” “YES!” So I prayed that she and her husband would be able to have a child of their own. Within the year, she was holding her own child. That was weird. How did that happen?
When these leaders in Jerusalem heard that salvation had come to these non-Jewish people, they couldn’t figure it out. But they accepted that the LORD was at work, that His way was more expansive than they had imagined. Non-Jewish people could have a relationship with God apart from observing the tenants of the Old Testament law.
When the LORD moves, we often say, “That was weird.” What He does often doesn’t fit within our neat categories of how things happen. But who are we to limit God to categories that humans have defined. He works outside and beyond those categories.
Down through our lives we have seen the LORD work in so many different ways. It is His work, so He can do it any way He wants. He uses people. But He also shows up, like He did back then, in visions, dreams, voices, and bright lights from the sky.
I think the best posture is to be open to the LORD’s moving in unexpected ways. Allow Him to do it His way so that He gets the glory. If we are not open to this kind of out-of-the-box kind of work, then He will move on and find someone who is open.
I want to be open to the moving of God in our world, even if it comes in unexpected ways, and blows up my categories.
The Arnold Journey 