What To Do When You Get Stoned
“But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe.”
Acts 14:19-20
Paul and Barnabas were in a city called Lystra. According to Wikipedia, it “was a city in central Anatolia, now part of present-day Turkey.“
They were having success in that lives were being changed through salvation and healing.
In fact, they were so successful that the locals thought that Paul and Barnabas were gods, and began to worship them. Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes and vehemently tried to tell the people that they were human, just like them.
To make matters worse, the Jews came and influenced the crowd to turn against Paul and Barnabas.
It got so ugly that they stoned Paul and left him for dead.
The other disciples gathered around Paul and wondered if Paul was dead. He wasn’t.
The Bible says that he got up and went into the city.
If this had happened to you or me, I think we would be tempted to quit. What’s the use? We might say: “I tried to preach the gospel and help people, and what do they do, stone me? Forget it!”
But Paul didn’t quit. Scripture says that the next day, he and Barnabas went to Derbe.
So what do you do when you get stoned?
- Get up. Don’t stay down.
- Get some rest. Paul and Barnabas didn’t leave until the next morning.
- Get going. Ask God to direct you. What’s the next city to go to?
- Keep moving.
Life may knock us down, but with God’s help we can get back up.
Meditate on these verses:
“For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of calamity.”
Proverbs 24:16
“we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;”
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
“but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:57
