The Hand of the Lord

 Leviticus 1-3; Acts 13 

“Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, ‘You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you…’”

Acts 13:9-11

There is a time to directly confront not just evil behavior, but evil itself. The political advisor and sorcerer, Elymas, or Bar-Jesus, was opposing Paul’s witness to Christ and undermining the faith of the proconsul. Paul’s direct rebuke was empowered and guided by the Holy Spirit.

Are we confident in the Lord’s presence and empowerment so we, like Paul, can stand firm when our Gospel witness is opposed?

The same hand of the Lord which empowered Paul, opposed Elymas. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, but there are no other hands into which we should trust our lives. When we live with full surrender and submission to the Lord and his delegated authority in the Church, we represent that authority in our confrontations with spiritual darkness.

“Lord Jesus, you are our Deliverer. Your hand both heals and rebukes, for your glory.”