How do we view interruptions? Usually, we don't like them.
Interruptions cost us something. They cost us time. They can cause frustration and inconvenience. They break our concentration and sometimes even contribute to mistakes.
But interruptions can also do something good.
They can redirect our priorities. They can prevent an error. They can bring us critical new information. They can cause us to stop, reconsider, and see something we might otherwise have missed.
And sometimes, an interruption can completely change the direction of a life.
The Bible is filled with these kinds of interruptions.
The past two months, our family has been reading through the biography of “Paul,” by N.T. Wright. A great book that I would highly recommend adding to your reading list.
The biography shares that Saul of Tarsus (Paul) was a devout Jew, passionate about defending the faith and convinced that the followers of Jesus were wrong.
In Acts 7, Saul witnessed a life interrupted – the death of Stephen, one of the followers of Jesus. As Stephen was being stoned, he looked toward heaven and said: “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” And as he was dying, Stephen prayed: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Saul witnessed it all—and approved of Stephen's death.
Then, in Acts 9, Saul was traveling to Damascus, still determined to arrest followers of the Way. But suddenly Saul’s journey was interrupted.
A brilliant light from heaven surrounded him, and Saul fell to the ground. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Saul asked: “Who are you, Lord?”
And the answer came: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
Everything Saul believed was suddenly confronted by the risen Christ.
Saul got up—but he could not see. The man who thought he could see the truth now had to be led by the hand into Damascus. For three days, Saul was blind.
But Saul wasn't the only person whose life was interrupted. Across Damascus was a believer named Ananias. The Lord appeared to Ananias in a vision and told him to go to Saul. Understandably, Ananias was afraid. He knew Saul's reputation. He knew what Saul had done to Christians.
Yet Ananias said yes to the Lord and to this interruption.
He went to the man who had come to persecute people like him, placed his hands on Saul, and called him: “Brother Saul.” Something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. Saul's physical sight was restored—but his entire understanding of Jesus had also been transformed. (Three days of blindness and now the resurrection of sight -physically and spiritually – transformed by this interruption).
The persecutor would become Paul the Apostle, missionary to the Gentiles, proclaiming that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God offers salvation as a gift of grace.
We don't earn it. We receive it through faith.
But Paul's interruptions weren't finished.
Later, Paul and Silas were traveling through Asia Minor preaching the gospel. Paul had plans about where he wanted to go.
But Acts 16 tells us that the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to go where they intended. An interruption. Then Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia pleading: “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
So, Paul changed direction. That interruption brought the gospel into Macedonia. (Later spreading into Europe.) There Paul encountered another unexpected interruption: Lydia, a successful merchant who sold expensive purple cloth.
Acts tells us: “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.” Lydia and her household were baptized, and her home became an important gathering place for the believers in Philippi.
Then Paul and Silas encountered an enslaved girl who had a spirit of divination and made money for her owners by fortune-telling. Day after day she followed Paul and Silas, interrupting and shouting after them. Finally, Paul became so troubled by it that he commanded the spirit to leave her. And it did. But now her owners had lost their source of income.
Paul and Silas were seized, beaten with rods, and thrown into prison.
Imagine that interruption!
Paul had followed God's call to Macedonia—and now he was sitting in a prison cell, beaten and chained. Yet around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the other prisoners were listening. Then came another interruption.
An earthquake.
The prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose. The jailer awoke and saw the open doors. Believing the prisoners had escaped, the jailer drew his sword to kill himself, but Paul shouted:
“Don't harm yourself! We are all here!”
The jailer rushed in and asked: “What must I do to be saved?”
That night, the jailer and his household heard the message of Jesus and were baptized.
Interruption after interruption.
Stephen. Saul. Ananias. Macedonia. Lydia. The slave girl. Prison. An earthquake. A jailer.
Again and again, God worked through events that did not fit neatly into someone's original plans. And that brings the question to us:
How are we responding to the interruptions in our own lives?
Certainly, not every interruption is from God. But perhaps some interruptions deserve more than our irritation. Perhaps sometimes we need to stop and ask:
Lord, are You trying to redirect me?
Is there someone You want me to notice?
Is there something You want me to see differently?
Are You asking me to trust You when Your plans are different from mine?
Maybe that is our invitation as well. To listen. To trust.
And when Jesus interrupts our plans and asks us to follow Him, to have the faith to say:
“Yes, Lord. I am listening. I trust You. Lead me.”