Increasing visibility

This week's study is on Acts 10:27-35:

Peter continued talking with him as he went in, and he found many people gathered together. He said to them, “You know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile, yet God has shown me that I should call no person defiled or ritually unclean. Therefore when you sent for me, I came without any objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?” Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my house, and suddenly a man in shining clothing stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your acts of charity have been remembered before God. Therefore send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter. This man is staying as a guest in the house of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’ Therefore I sent for you at once, and you were kind enough to come. So now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to say to us.”

Then Peter started speaking: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people, but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is welcomed before him. 

These verses describe the results of two separate visitations of the Holy Spirit that united Peter and Cornelius. The Holy Spirit visited Peter and convinced him that non-Jews weren't dirty imperialist scum, and he visited Cornelius and told him to go get Peter and where to find him.

This kind of visitation still happens today. I've heard several stories of cases in non-Christian countries where people have been visited in dreams and visions by someone identifying himself as Jesus and telling them where to find Christians. I also have a friend who, as a teen, decided he was going to find out once and for all whether God was real and locked himself in his room and prayed and ended up encountering Jesus face to face. So don't limit your expectations by reading too much metaphor into these Bible stories. These things really do happen in real life.

Anyway, these guys never would have met if God hadn't spoken to them both. Peter was steeped in anti-European racism since birth, and understandably, because Cornelius' people invaded his country and made it into a colony. The Romans imposed their rule and culture on his people. We don't know to what degree Peter was "woke" but we know he was quick to put distance between himself and the Europeans.

Would Peter have opened his mind on his own, if God hadn't spoken to him? Would his "all Jews all the time" social circle have produced someone who would have told him that everyone is equal in God's eyes despite what his scriptures seemed to tell him? Would his path have naturally crossed with Cornelius'? If not, we have to recognize this as a miracle in its own right. Not only did God deliver a message to Peter through a visitation of sorts, but he enabled him to see things from a perspective he never would have considered on his own.

Cornelius, on the other hand, was literally an oppressor. He was an officer in the occupying colonial army of Rome. And yet he didn't fit the stereotype. He loved the Jews. He supported them financially. He was devout in worshiping God, but he could never be seen on equal terms with Jewish believers. He wanted to go deeper but nobody would show him the way.

Would Cornelius have heard the Gospel if God didn't show up and tell him where to find a Christian? He was at the edge of a chasm and God showed up to show him the way across. Not only did God appear miraculously but he gave Cornelius information he never could have found on his own: The name of a Christian and his address and contact info.

We're very lucky to live in a connected world where we can find almost any information we need and be exposed to countless viewpoints different from our own. But we still have access to the Holy Spirit and he will occasionally intervene in our lives like he did for Peter and Cornelius and increase the visibility of something we need. There's always an unknown unknown that we can benefit from seeing.

If you read the whole chapter, you'll see that Cornelius and Peter had both spent a lot of time in prayer. Prayer gives us access to something beyond ourselves, and beyond our world and our circumstances in it. Prayer acknowledges that we can still stand to learn more and have more of a connection with God.

Whether there's something weighing on you or whether you are in a perfect place in life right now, you can still benefit from praying and seeking God like Peter and Cornelius did. And if you learn something in that prayer like they did, act on it.

If Peter had just gone back to his Palestinian political correctness and shunned Cornelius' invitation, or if Cornelius had been too afraid to find out whether this random guy really existed or would accept him, this whole story would have been for nothing. Oftentimes we have a powerful encounter with God and we tell everyone about it and then consider the story over. But when the Holy Spirit speaks, he speaks with a purpose.

We can always stand to have a bit more visibility into God's plan for us, or in any aspect of our lives. There are limits to what we can learn or how good we can become at life, unless we allow God's light to show us a bit more. Take some time in prayer and see what God has to show you.