Acts 16:6-10 Forbidden to speak the Word!

Acts 16:6-10 Paul and Silas continue traveling through Asia Minor but the Holy Spirit does not allow them to minister. This overland journey took them through several regions beyond the cities that Paul had visited on his first journey, traveling roughly west northwest from Iconium. Mysia is a province west of Galatia, Bithynia is north of Galatia, and Troas is a city on the extreme western tip of Asia Minor.  The Holy Spirit forbidding them to speak the word in Asia sounds odd, as in many other places Paul said that he tried to reach all men. But here God overrode Paul's plan and said no. And then Paul was guided by a vision seen in a dream, rather than the Holy Spirit.

          When we are trying to serve God and it seems like things don't work out, our most common response is to blame it on the opposition. The devil is trying to prevent us from doing God's work. But in this case, Paul did not draw that conclusion.  Perhaps he had a view of God's sovereignty that precluded the devil from having such power. But how are we to discern when spiritual direction is coming from the Holy Spirit, from cases when spiritual opposition is hindering us? Although the Bible gives various thoughts on this topic, there is no simple three-step process to discerning God's will. It is sufficient to say that there are almost always more than one possible source or cause of spiritual effects and we should not be hasty in ascribing them to one or the other, without spending some time considering what it might be. Perhaps we should persevere in the face of demonic opposition, or perhaps we should submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit. In this case, Paul abstained from preaching the word under the leading of the Holy Spirit. God then confirmed his direction through the vision in a dream, which Paul immediately responded to.

          An interesting fact is that the voice changes from third person plural to first person plural in this passage. Somewhere along this leg of the journey, Luke evidently joined Paul and his traveling party, because at Troas when Paul had the vision, Luke comments that 'God had called us'. No autobiographical information is given; how Luke became a Christian, or how he was called by God to join Paul. Luke is mentioned in Colossians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:11, and Philemon verse 24, in all cases as being a companion of Paul. In one case he is mentioned as being the beloved physician, in another case as a fellow worker, and in one case as being the only companion then present with Paul. Luke never records any specific actions that he took, but we infer that he must have been an eyewitness to many of many of the subsequent events recorded in the book of Acts.