The word that God gave Paul earlier at Corinth brought much
fruit.
Only the Holy Spirit can tell where the seeds of God’s word
would do well.
Certain kinds of grounds are a lot more resistant to God’s
word.
Even though opposition seems to persist everywhere, the word
thrives in a place if we allow God to send us there in His own timing.
The pattern of Paul’s work seems to be to break new grounds
for the gospel in new places.
He breaks the fallow grounds, introduces the seed of the
gospel and leaves while it springs forth in his absence.
Corinth was a success story to the extent that, Priscilla
and Aquilla could leave with him to Ephesus.
Paul clears a little space for the word also in Syria but
quickly moves on.
The case of Ephesus is very interesting indeed.
This is the same region where God forbade Paul from entering
to preach the word in Chap. 16: 6-7.
It proves that the issue was one of timing even at that
period.
It could also be a question of divine priority – maybe God
wanted them in Macedonia first.
The city of Ephesus was thirsty for God’s word but Paul
could not wait now for personal reasons
The passage says Paul had a vow
This implies that Paul made a vow, most probably a vow of
thanksgiving, before reaching the region of Syria and Ephesus.
Paul seems to live above a common pitfall of public
ministry.
Ministers tend to spend much time attending to other people
without working on their own relationship in a private place with God.
Paul seems not to be ignoring his own spiritual life.
We need to study for ourselves, apart from studying to teach
others.
We must spend time praying to edify ourselves, apart from
when we pray for others.
There are times when we have to leave God’s business in
God’s hands when they prove to be too much for us to handle.
The hunger and the need in Ephesus notwithstanding, Paul
dropped the work at Ephesus to continue back to Jerusalem for reasons of his
own edification.
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