Movin’ On Up

The pastor and worship team at my church were used of God in crafting a service that reflected on the power of prayer to the God who never slumbers. Our text was Acts 21:1-14. In those verses, Paul is movin’ along on his missionary journey, Jerusalem-bound and the Spirit is moving in the people he meets, sending a recurring message: “nothing good awaits you in Jerusalem.”

This news is understandably distressing to the people who love Paul. Paul responds by saying, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

My pastor’s first proposition was to “resign” yourself to the will of God. Not “submit” or “surrender,” or some more spiritual word that doesn’t imply wearily and reluctantly giving up. 

The pastor and worship team at my church were used of God in crafting a service that reflected on the power of prayer to the God who never slumbers. Our text was Acts 21:1-14. In those verses, Paul is movin’ along on his missionary journey, Jerusalem-bound and the Spirit is moving in the people he meets, sending a recurring message: “nothing good awaits you in Jerusalem.”

This news is understandably distressing to the people who love Paul. Paul responds by saying, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

My pastor’s first proposition was to “resign” yourself to the will of God. Not “submit” or “surrender,” or some more spiritual word that doesn’t imply wearily and reluctantly giving up. 

But was Paul really “resigning” to God? He seemed pretty focused, stalwart. It’s only today that I realized that my pastor was comparing us to those people hugging Paul and praying with him on the shore.

The key verse was Acts 21:14: 

Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”

If they (including Luke, the author, who includes himself in the crowd) could have persuaded Paul with their words, or their descriptions of the chains he would be bound in, they would have. They tried. They tried hard. When they failed, then they resigned themselves to the will of the Lord.

It’s not like these folks weren’t plugged in to the mission of advancing the gospel, or that they didn’t have vibrant relationships with God (or else the Spirit wouldn’t be speaking to them). It’s just that sometimes we don’t want to move up the hills of hardship.

You’re probably too young to remember this, or maybe you don’t watch TV, so bear with me. One of my formative sitcoms was The Jeffersons, which modeled an ascent from struggle to affluence that, during the time, was unusual for television. Before Heathcliff and Clair Huxtable, there was George and Weezie. One of my favorite aspects of the show was the introductory music. Take a listen. Here are the lyrics:

Well we're movin on up,

To the east side.

To a deluxe apartment in the sky.

Movin on up,

To the east side.

We finally got a piece of the pie.

Fish don't fry in the kitchen;

Beans don't burn on the grill.

Took a whole lotta tryin',

Just to get up that hill.

Now we're up in the big leagues,

Gettin' our turn at bat.

As long as we live, it's you and me baby,

There ain't nothin wrong with that.

Well we're movin on up,

To the east side.

To a deluxe apartment in the sky.

We're moving on up,

To the east side.

We finally got a piece of the pie!

Love it! They tried and tried, and now they’re up the hill, it’s their turn, they have what seems like an amazing kitchen and a deluxe Upper East Side apartment. Go, Jeffersons! Let’s all move on up!

Um, no.

My pastor’s second proposition, echoed by songs that spoke of God’s watchfulness, prayer, and a Brooklyn Tabernacle song-version of Psalm 121 was that if we want to get up that hill, we had better pray. Ascent is not going to look like what we had in mind; the trials, the sickness, the disappointments, the layoffs are all chains that God allows in bringing you up. But we are not alone, and we are not without help. The Lord is our Sherpa, we shall not want.

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

I look up toward the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Creator of heaven and earth!

May he not allow your foot to slip!

May your protector not sleep!

Look! Israel’s protector

does not sleep or slumber!

The Lord is your protector;

the Lord is the shade at your right hand.

The sun will not harm you by day,

or the moon by night.

The Lord will protect you from all harm;

he will protect your life.

The Lord will protect you in all you do,

now and forevermore.