Acts 21:1-6. Paul and his followers sail from Ephesus on their journey to Jerusalem. After stops at several cities, they land at Tyre, where they disembark and find the disciples in that city. The group stays with these disciples for seven days. During that visit, the disciples, "[t]hrough the Spirit", urge Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. After the week is up, the disciples accompany Paul and his followers to the beach, where they all kneel and pray together before Paul and his followers board their ship to continue their journey.

Why, sometimes, do the Holy Spirit's messages seem to conflict? Paul is very in tune with the Holy Spirit and is always following His guidance, and he is quite certain that he must return to Jerusalem, even though he knows he will suffer there. The disciples in Tyre, though, are also being led by the Spirit when they tell Paul not to go to Jerusalem. I can understand that these disciples could see the danger that awaits Paul and don't want him to risk himself, but if that were all it was, Luke would not have said they were speaking "through the Spirit." The Holy Spirit is clearly telling the disciples to try to dissuade Paul while, at the same time, he is putting it in Paul's heart that he must go to Jerusalem. Why would God do this?

As I think about it, several things occur to me. First, Paul has already said, in his speech to the Ephesians, that he does not know what awaits him in Jerusalem, but that the Spirit has warned him of trials and afflictions in every town. Paul also made clear that he would not be back to Ephesus, so one assumes that he knows his visit to Jerusalem will be the end of his journeys. But maybe the Holy Spirit wanted to make it very clear to Paul that Jerusalem will indeed mean and end to his free movement. It seems to me that God always wants to make us as aware as possible of the dangers we will encounter for His sake, so that when we give our "fiat," either in word or deed, it is truly the choice of our will. God wants us to give "informed consent." So perhaps the Spirit was using these disciples to further "fill Paul in" on what he is getting into - kind of like a package insert in a prescription drug🙂.

Secondly, the disciples themselves have their own missions, and the Spirit wants to encourage and guide them, as well. When they hear that Paul is heading for Jerusalem, they know he will face dnager there, and they feel worry for him. That is proper of them, and the Holy Spirit would want to encourage these feelings of protection, warning, and care. There is no way they could know Paul's inner-most conversations with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not going to reveal those to them. (Our relationship with God is both personal and communal, and God protects the personal parts!)

These disciples would have perhaps felt guilty or responsible in some way if they had not warned Paul, so the Holy Spirit encourages those good instincts; allows them to be "free of Paul's blood" (as Paul said he was of the Ephesians'); and uses their warning to Paul to make sure Paul is aware of the risk to which he is agreeing. It's a win, win!

God always sees the biggest of pictures - the interplay of everyone and everything in all of history. He loves each of us infinitely, and will always lead us to do what is best for ourselves and for others. We do not need to worry about seeming contradictions, we do not see or know what God does. All we have to do is be open to him and trustingly follow the Spirit's lead!