“When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the believers and encouraged them. Then he said good-bye and left for Macedonia. 2 While there, he encouraged the believers in all the towns he passed through. Then he travelled down to Greece, 3 where he stayed for three months. He was preparing to sail back to Syria when he discovered a plot by some Jews against his life, so he decided to return through Macedonia.4 Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 After the Passover ended, we boarded a ship at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later joined them in Troas, where we stayed a week. 7 On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. 8 The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. 9 As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. 10 Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” 11 Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. 12 Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.” Acts 20:1-12 NLT
Father,
I can understand the stays that Paul made on his journeys. To share the gospel, encourage the faithful and to stay in a home and give his body a rest. Everywhere he went was by foot. He put himself out to do Your will. Help us to see an opportunity and not an inconvenience. And help us see times we need to rest.
I had to as it were drop in on this event in Troas. A young man called Eutychus fell to his death. One of those occasions when we ask why. Did Paul go on too long? Was the man silly to sit in an open windowsill. Was then enemy using his tiredness to disrupt the message and do harm? Why? How often we wonder why and those who do not know You God sometimes ask us why You, God allowed it to happen. Why is not always helpful. He was tired. Paul was giving his last teaching before leaving. It had to be after the days work for the listeners. It was no-ones fault. Accidents happen.
We see that Paul like Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24) is able to restore him. And many believe this is a warning to keep spiritually alive alert and rested. Being too tired to read Your Word or pray. Yet You do not call us to religiously worship, pray and read the Bible. Help us to make it a natural part of our living, not a must be done deed. Rather a pleasure as natural as breathing, taking a drink or nibbling a biscuit?
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Worship Saturday 6th December 2025
“Lina” Wilhelmina Sandell Berg was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor. She was very close to her father. She wrote hymns partly to cope with the fact that she witnessed his tragic death by drowning.
Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
Every day the Lord Himself is near me,
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,
He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.
Help me then, in every tribulation,
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation,
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.
Lyrics: Carolina Sandwell