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NOTES for Act 13:2

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2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
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How simple everything is, is it not? The Holy Spirit spoke, and everything was clear to everyone. Why, then, are we always overcome by doubts and uncertainty, endless searches for God's will, and inability to hear His voice?

In this connection it is fitting to recall a parable. A certain man came to his spiritual mentor with a question: "Why have I been seeking a meeting with God for so many years, and still it does not happen?" Then the mentor led him into the water and began to drown him. And when the man had almost choked, he pulled him out of the water and asked, "What did you want most of all there, under the water?" The disciple answered, "Air." "Then," said the teacher, "when you desire that meeting as much as air, it will happen."

Do we seek the will of God that strongly? Can we always say, as in this verse, that we "served the Lord and fasted"?

Other notes

 
For Act 13:2
2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
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This is what is remarkable about life after Pentecost, this is what is remarkable about the book of Acts: all events take place not simply by human understanding and decision, but because the Holy Spirit has revealed His will. We can only sigh over the fact that...  Read more

This is what is remarkable about life after Pentecost, this is what is remarkable about the book of Acts: all events take place not simply by human understanding and decision, but because the Holy Spirit has revealed His will. We can only sigh over the fact that for some reason things do not work that way for us. But should we only sigh? Is it not worth looking more closely at why it worked for them?

First, it is written that they worshiped the Lord and fasted. This means that people were seeking God’s will, praying earnestly for it, even fasting so as to pray with greater earnestness. For God this was a sign that His word would be heard with full attention and not allowed to pass by their ears. Do we prepare in such a way for God to be able to say something important to us?

Second, it is said that no word of God is powerless (Luke 1:37). Therefore, if God sees, and He really does see, that we are not going to receive His word in obedience, He will not give it to us. Why cast pearls before swine? The next verse (Acts 13:3) shows that in this case people hastened to fulfill God’s will. If only we were like that too!

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For Act 13:1-12
1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.
5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.
6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus:
7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,
10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
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In this story it is very important to understand that Elymas is not an enemy of the apostles, and that the apostles have no authority to...  Read more

In this story it is very important to understand that Elymas is not an enemy of the apostles, and that the apostles have no authority to punish their opponents or dissenters in any way. This is important because we are very inclined, for the sake of a God-pleasing cause, to find enemies for ourselves and, if we have the chance, to punish them thoroughly. What, then, happened?

As we remember, blindness in Scripture very often expresses conscious or unconscious resistance to God. Do you remember how the Lord spoke about "the blind man who leads the blind"? It is especially significant to hear words about blindness from Paul, who himself went through the experience of being blinded when he was a persecutor of the Church and of Christ. This very episode with Paul lets us understand that the blinding of Elymas is not so much a punishment as an act of God that places a person in a completely special position, the position of needing to choose, always freely nevertheless, between light and darkness, between hostility to God and faith.

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