A bone tired traveller was exhausted from days of traveling and trying to sleep in strange places for his job. The fatigue won out over the the strange surroundings as the weary traveler drifted off to sleep. Getting a full night of sleep was a luxury he looked forward to getting. He went to bed with a lot on his mind. Confusing thoughts clouded his mind. Decisions had to be made. Several opportunities had closed on moving forward. He was unsettled about future direction. Subordinates were counting on his to get it right.
That is when his sleep was interrupted with a vision. It seemed real. Let's define vision as a mental picture. Some of those mental pictures were clarion clear. Others were a little hazy. In his vision, the traveller saw one man calling for help. In the dream he could even make out where the mail hailed from. Did the man's dress give it away? Did the surroundings reveal the location?
There were no specifics as to what coming to help would entail. It was vague. It could involve dozens of things. Come and live? Come and visit? Come instruct? Come consult? Come and train. Come start a new business? None of these things were spelled out in the vision. Just a man calling for help.
For most of us, that vision would have been easy to dismiss. Not for our weary traveller known better as the Apostle Paul. The vision came to him after the Holy Spirit had shut doors for him to go to Asia to preach the word and to Bithynia. It was at Troas where Paul fell asleep and had that vision. You can read about it in [Acts 16:9-10]
There are not many details in the vision other than the ones I listed before. The man was from Macedonia. He was standing and appealing for Paul to come to Macedonia to help. The word appealing has several meanings in the Greek language. It means exhort, encourage, to invite, to implore and to beg. This sounds like the man in the vision was desperate. There is a sense of urgency about his appeal. It was both an invitation and a call from God.
God is able to do that. He can connect a real need with the person He chooses and calls to meet the need. That happens all the time. People share resources because God instructs them to meet a need in someone's life. God calls people uproot and relocate to meet a missionary need or ministry need. God interrupts plans and comfortable lives calling people to live on mission for Him where needs are not being met.
Are we open to God connecting other's needs with our ability to help? God had a purpose for closing doors for Paul and opening the door to Macedonia. The same way God has purposes in closing some doors of opportunity while opening others for us. We cannot meet every single need around us. He did not design us to do so. There are some needs that He chooses us to help meet. Our job is to listen attentively. The way He communicates that vision is up to Him. It might be a scripture, a casual conversation, a heavy burden, an unusual occurrence, or maybe even a vision. When He reveals where we are to help, how will we respond? Do we respond in obedient faith?
Somewhere in the place you live somebody is pleading for God to send help. God hears their plea and He just might be connecting that need to your attention and heart. He might be calling you to get involved. To give a generous donation to someone. To help in an already existing ministry. To start a new ministry where needs are not being met In extreme cases, God might even call you to relocate to connect the needs of other people with you ability to go and help meet them. May we all pray Isaiah's prayer, "Here I am, send me." [Is 6:8]
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