“Some shouted one thing and some another. Since he couldn’t find out the truth in all the uproar and confusion, he ordered that Paul be taken to the fortress.” (Acts 21:34)
The twenty-first chapter of the book of Acts gives us the account of the trouble the apostle Paul encountered when he returned to Jerusalem. Some Jews from the province of Asia came to Jerusalem and accused Paul of speaking against the Jews. As well, they “assumed” that Paul had taken Gentiles into the Temple. This resulted in the entire city of Jerusalem consumed in a “great riot.” They drug Paul into the Temple closed the gates and tried to kill him. Word of the uproar reached the Roman Commander in Jerusalem. He quickly grabbed his soldiers and ran to the commotion. The account tells us that some people were shouting one thing and some another. Now listen to what happened next – “Since he couldn’t find out the truth in all the uproar and confusion, he ordered Paul be taken to the fortress.”
Uproar and confusion distort truth. As I contemplate that verse, my mind can’t help but race ahead from Paul’s time to our own. Do not the terms “uproar and confusion” define our nation today? Now, like Paul’s experience in Jerusalem, some people shout one thing and some another. Political parties, races, genders, social status, nationalities are pitted against one another. Truth cannot be sorted out. Darkness grows. The clamor becomes louder. The uproar is consumed with confusion.
The bible tells us that, “God is not a God of confusion.” Some translations exchange the word confusion for disorder. The two spiritual powers in the universe are God and Satan. So if God is not a God of confusion, where does all the confusion in our world today come from? Bingo! You go to the head of the class! Satan loves nothing more than to stir up all sorts of confusion, clamor, disorder, hatred. All the things we are sadly seeing in our nation, and our world, today.
Will it ever end? Yes, one day Jesus Christ will return in all His glory, and the hatred and strife will disappear. What can we as believers in Jesus Christ do as we wait for his return? The first thing we need to do is make certain we are not a part of the finger pointing, name-calling, mud-slinging, and hatred that has become so much a part of our society. We need to be careful what we post on social media. We may be instigating something we really don’t want to. Second thing is for us to show the love of Jesus Christ to others. Show them there is still goodness and love in this world. And most importantly, it is essential that we pray. I can’t help but believe that one of the reasons we are seeing all the uproar and confusion in our society may well rest in the laxness of the prayers of believers. How often are we praying for our nation? For our leadership? Like our leaders or not, they are there because God has placed each one of them in their given positions. If we prayed as much as we complained, we might see God work and the uproar and confusion disappear.
Darlene