2 Corinthians 2:12-14 AMP
Now when I arrived at Troas to preach the good news of Christ, even though a door [of opportunity] opened for me in the Lord, [13] my spirit could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there; so saying goodbye to them, I left for Macedonia. [14] But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us spreads and makes evident everywhere the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him.
When Paul left Troas, was he in the will of God, or was he outside of the will of God. It was the Lord that opened the door for Paul to preach the gospel in Troas, but he had no rest in his spirit to stay there. This seems so contradictory because it seems like staying or going could have been the right spiritual decision. Have you ever had to make a decision, and yet there wasn’t a lot of clarity about which one was exactly the right choice to make? I think all of us have, and then it becomes especially confusing if the decision that we make results in things turning out not so great.
I love the fact that Paul didn’t look back and question whether or not he had made the right choice. Instead, he trusted the sovereign reign of God in his life. Paul said, “But thanks be to God, who ALWAYS leads us in His triumph in Christ…” There are often choices we have to make where the right and the wrong choice are very clear, but there are many times when clarity is a little squiggly, just like in Paul situation, yet Paul was absolutely confident that even though he might not always get it right, because he was in Christ, God would always lead him in His triumph. Aren’t you glad that because God is perfect, you don’t have to be? A religious spirit of legalism thinks that because God is perfect, we have to be perfect also. The opposite of legalism is grace and grace tells us that the God who has committed himself to us unconditionally is perfect, and therefore we don’t have to be. Again, I am not endorsing that it is okay to intentionally, with your eyes wide open, disobey God. I am saying that what God loves is wholeheartedness, not perfection from us. There is a difference. God is not a God who keeps score; instead, he is a God who keeps covenant. He knows that we are made of dust.