Paul opens his letter to Timothy, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,” (I Tim. 1:1).

Paul is writing from a Roman prison cell. “Apostle” in Greek and Hebrew simply means one sent. Paul, “a sent one,” sitting in a Roman cell? An old cistern, dark and dank, 19 feet beneath the ground? Chariots and foot traffic rolling over this apostle of Messiah’s head as if he is not there?

In prison he’s an apostle? Yes, unreservedly, yes! even in that buried cell, he is still sent from God.

Paul had seen the glory of the Jerusalem Temple. He sat with the greatest teachers. He saw the glory of Yeshua/Jesus on the road to Damascus. He spread the Gospel to nations. Hoping to arrive in Rome in freedom, yet he arrived in chains. Is this his end?

How is he able to keep such a vision of his call, when it appears that his end will be in a cell? Yeshua.

“For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day,” (II Tim. 1:12).

There is not a line of self-pity in either of the letters to Timothy. Why? He knows in whom he has trusted, and both he and the work committed to him will be kept into glory, it will not be buried in Rome, as it is the work of the resurrected Messiah.

Rome tossed Paul into a cell, perhaps, in their view, to a meaningless end; yet, the empire of Rome that sought his end, ended up in the dustbin of history itself: relics of greatness amid the continued witness of Messiah to the world.

If you are feeling that your present circumstance will bring to an end the work the Lord set you to, fear not, Paul did not end in a cell, he reached the goal of his race, Yeshua Himself.

Be well. Shalom.

Jacob, the sneaky, conniving, heel-grabbing trickster is the third and final patriarch included in the covenantal language of: אֱלֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם אֱלֹהֵי יִצְחָק, וֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב, “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Ex. 3:6; Matt. 22:32). Why?

When all of Jacob’s tricks ran out, and he must face his brother Esau, he calls out to the God of his father Abraham, and the God of his father Isaac, in a desperate attempt to find deliverance; only to attempt to assure his own deliverance by dividing his household. Self-reliance clothed in an outer garment of faith (Gen. 32).

Jacob, the one who grabbed, finding himself alone, was then grabbed, wrestled, touched, blessed, and changed by God. Only when Jacob was out of strength, ideas, tricks, and vitality could he move forward with God in faith.

Then, and only then, did the God of Abraham, and Isaac, become of the God of Jacob as well. As it was only when his self-reliance was used up, that he could then rely on God, and become Israel, “God governed.”

So how has the Lord touched you, in order that you, like Jacob, rely on Him, and His governance? What is the source of your limp? It is not a weakness as you might suppose; rather, it is the point where His strength works through you (II Cor. 12:8-10).

Be well. Shalom.