Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Acts 14:21-22 They preached the good news in that city (Derbe) and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.
BLESSED ENCOURAGEMENT
Now this is truly amazing!: "... they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch."
Paul was at the last new city on his first missionary journey. It had been a rough tour: having been opposed by a sorcerer on Cypress, John Mark having deserted them in Pamphilia, having been run out of Pisidian Antioch, having discovered just in time the plot to kill him in Iconium, and finally having been stoned in Lystra.
In Derbe at last their ministry appeared peaceful, and then it was time to return home. Nearby was the Cilician pass through the Taurus Mountains, the "freeway" home. But no! Instead of the quicker, easier way, Paul and Barnabas turned around and went the opposite way twenty miles "over wild and dusty plain" back to Lystra, the place of stones. Then they went back still further, forty miles to Iconium, and another sixty some to Pisidian Antioch.
Why go home from peaceful Derbe by way of tumultuous Lystra, Iconium and Antioch? You know the reason, don't you? It was not because Paul and Barnabas were looking for something that would benefit them, but they went back to encourage the believers there -- "Yes, this is the way to God. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Even though the road leads through many hardships, much tribulation, God is still ruling, this is the Kingdom Road." This was the kind of encouragement that Paul and Barnabas brought, the reason they returned.
