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| Peter and Cornelius meet |
Day 2
Today I chose The Living Bible for my Acts 10 reading from Bible Gateway.
I am going to use the same Opening Prayer that I used
yesterday. I may use it the entire
time. I may not. It came easily to me yesterday.
Opening Prayer:
"Lord, open my eyes to what you have for me today. Show me what you want me to see and guide my
understanding. Amen."
As I begin to read this morning, right away, this stands out
to me about Cornelius's character: godly, reverent, generous, and a man of
prayer.
Another thing that catches my attention is that Peter is
perplexed and puzzled by the vision of the food. He is trying to figure out what this means to
him, for him.
I imagine Peter struggling
with the thought 'why would these foods be okay now when they haven't been
before?' Verse 17 in this version says:
"Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? What was he supposed to do?"
What is Peter supposed to do with this
new information from God? In verse 15,
the voice in the vision said: "Don't contradict God!" That is easier said than done when you've
been doing something one way for many years and God changes the path.
That reminds me of the passages in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said: "You've heard ______, but I say ______." Jesus changed the path. (See Matthew 5.)
God brought together two men from differing backgrounds with two visions. They both listened and obeyed what they were told. Though it seemed odd, out of tradition, and maybe improbable (if you go find this person, will they respond and come back just because you've asked them to?), both men did as they were told and the result was that there was a space in which the Holy Spirit was able to make itself known.
By creating spaces of grace for others, the Holy Spirit has room to work.
May we be open to creating spaces
of grace so that the Holy Spirit has room to work.
Amen.
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Blessings on your journey,
Debra
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