Read: Acts 9:19-25
But his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. (v. 25)
I don’t know what kind of basket Saul had to get into that night. There’s a good chance it smelled like fish and creaked loudly with its heavier than usual cargo. It may have bumped the hard wall on its way down, causing Saul and his friends to hold their breath. Would the basket and rope hold? Would the Jewish leaders catch them? They were seething and wanted the traitor Saul dead.
Yet there was Saul, previously a Pharisee of Pharisees, in the dead of night, literally hanging by some threads of rope, in a smelly, creaky basket, because Jesus said, “Go!”
When God calls us to go, we can wind up in some pretty precarious situations, utterly in God’s hands. But that’s the point. Complete dependence allows us to experience God’s incredible presence and provision as we go. Saul’s hardships for the gospel were serious, but ultimately secondary compared to his life in Christ. Saul’s response to “Go!” was “Whatever it takes.” Even if it meant hanging in a basket, in the dead of night.
When we say, “Whatever it takes,” in response to God’s call, we’re utterly in God’s hands. And that’s the absolute best place to be. —Linda R. Rubingh
As you pray, ask God for the strength to say, “Whatever it takes, Lord.”
About the Author
Linda R. Rubingh is a pastor, therapist, and writer with a passion for mission. She is the co-founder with her husband, Trevor, of New City Kids, and is completing her first children’s book, I Love to Tell the Story: Stories of Meeting Jesus from Every Nation, Tribe and Tongue. Linda is a New Jersey native but now lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with Trevor, their two children, and an overactive Siberian Husky.
