“…they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.” Acts 14:19b-20

Gather Around

If you’ve watched nature shows and documentaries, you’ve seen this lovely, instinctual (i.e., God-given) behavior that many species engage in. When one member of the group is injured, sick, weak, in danger, or even just young, the bigger or stronger ones gather around to protect the one until it is able to move on or it is out of danger.

This is the picture that came to mind when I read that after Paul was stoned and left for dead, the disciples gathered around him. There he was on the ground, battered and bleeding, with life-threatening injuries to his head and body, yet when the other Christ-followers of that city surrounded him, he arose.

God surely did a miracle to lift Paul to his feet, enabling him to walk back into that city, then on to the next city the very next day. (I contrast this with my own reaction to injury—if I merely stub my toe or skin my knee, I’ve been known to sit in my recliner until day’s end.) We don’t know if the disciples prayed for him, or laid hands on him, or gave him some medical aid—or if it was just their presence that strengthened and encouraged Paul. We just know they gathered around, and he rose up.

This is a beautiful picture of how we need each other in our lives. We need to surround one another in families, neighborhoods, and churches as a tremendous encouragement to keep going. Gathering around someone says to them, “I’m here for you. I will do what I can to protect you. I will wait with you while you heal and get strong again. I am here to lift you when you fall. I will encourage you in your faith.”

Later, Paul actually returned to that same city (vs. 21-22). These disciples who had surrounded Paul now received encouragement from him. He went back to “strengthen the souls of the disciples, exhort them to continue in the faith, and remind them that they would certainly have many tribulations in this world on their way to enter the kingdom of God.”

Speaking for myself, I certainly want other believers to gather around me when I’ve gone down. I need your encouragement to move forward. I need your protective prayers when I am weak. I need you to strengthen my soul, exhort me to continue in the faith, and remind me that I’m only going through what so many others have endured before me. And while you’re at it—remind me that eternity is just around the corner!

“Father, thank You for this example of believers surrounding other believers in their time of need. Help us to see who needs us today. Amen.”