“So the next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived at the auditorium with great pomp, accompanied by military officers and prominent men of the city. Festus ordered that Paul be brought in.”
Acts 25:23 (NLT)
Before Paul ever speaks to Agrippa and Bernice, Luke lets us see the room. Military officers are there. Prominent men of the city are there. There is pomp, pride, and public spectacle surrounding Paul’s chains. But Festus also admits the truth: the Jews want Paul killed, yet he has no real charge to send to Caesar.
What was meant to harm Paul has become another doorway for the Gospel. God has used his chains, trials, tribulations, and suffering to place him before notable leaders in Caesarea who have no knowledge of the Gospel, no understanding of God, and no way to Him without someone like Paul standing in that room and speaking the Good News.
That is what moves me here. Festus thinks he is gathering people to help him write legal paperwork. Without knowing it, he has basically asked unbelievers to take sermon notes. His motive may be worldly, but God’s purpose is still holy. Even the pomp gets redeemed when more unbelievers are brought into the room to hear the truth.
Our trials can become opportunities in disguise. The places where we feel uncomfortable, where we have every reason to complain, whine, remain silent, or hide, may be the very places God wants us to speak highly of Him. So will we be like Paul? Will we testify in our trial? Our assignment is to be faithful, surrendered, and willing to share what God has done for us, in us, and through us until the day we meet Him.