"Perhaps..."

READ: Philemon

REFLECT
There are so many lessons to learn from this little letter, that simply cannot be covered in one brief “quiet time”. However, one of the key lessons I’ve learned has to do with the little word Paul wrote in v. 15, “perhaps”. One of my Bible School instructors referred to this as the “providential perhaps”.

Onesimus was a slave who belonged to Philemon. He ran away, all the way to Rome, and somehow met up with Paul. Paul shared the gospel with him and Onesimus became a Christian. He stayed with Paul (who was under house arrest) and served him for a time, but Paul decided to send Onesimus back to his master. To you and me, the reason God allowed this separation between master and slave to happen was so that Onesimus would become a Christian. We would no doubt very confidently state that. But Paul wrote “perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good...as a dear brother.” Paul did not arrogantly and confidently ascribe this to God’s working, but rather was humble enough to say “perhaps”.

We are often so arrogantly confident in ascribing certain things that happen in our lives to God, as if we know the mind of God. Was it God’s will for Onesimus to become a Christian - absolutely! But could Paul say confidently that this is the reason God allowed him to run away - absolutely not! God is able to work in spite of our best or worst decisions, but how and why he work in specific situations is not so clear that we can say, “this is the reason” but rather we should say “perhaps the reason is this”.

PRAY
Father, in my heart and mind, please help me to leave room for you to do what you do. So often I think I KNOW what and why you worked, but, in fact, I don't KNOW, but rather I think or even speculate. You are God. I am not. I do trust that no matter, when I get to heaven, I find out what you did and why, I know this: it will be consistent with your faithful, just and completely loving nature. May I have the humility today and for the rest of my life to not ever presume that I know exactly what you are doing or why, but to have the faith to trust, even when I have no idea, that you are working to bring about my salvation and the salvation of as many as possible.

OBEY
What is your reaction to what I have written? How cautious are you at ascribing certain things to God’s working? Should you add a “perhaps” to your statements?