Psalm 125
The theme of this psalm is that God is our protector and we are safe in His care. The Jews felt safe when they reached Jerusalem (Mount Zion) because it was well fortified by the mountains which surrounded it. In the same way, the Lord surrounds and protects us, both now and forever. v. 2. We can trust Him to protect us from enemies and from our own temptations. "O Lord, do good to those who are good, whose hearts are in tune with you." v. 4
Acts 11:19-30
In this passage we see something good come out of a tragedy. I'm sure the believers who saw Stephen stoned to death could hardly imagine that God could bring anything good out of that. I don't believe God causes evil, but I do think He can use it for His purposes. And in this case, He used the persecution of the believers to scatter them abroad and to take the Gospel with them. Here we see that many Gentiles in Antioch became believers as a result of this dispersion. When the believers at Jerusalem heard about this, they sent Barnabas--whose name means "son of encouragement"--to check it out. Barnabas was true to his name and encouraged them to stay true to the Lord. v. 23 Barnabas is one of my favorite Bible characters because encouragement is such a great need for all of us. And instead of looking for someone to encourage him, Barnabas took the initiative to be the encourager. We should go and do likewise!
Then Barnabas found Saul and brought him back to Antioch where they ministered together for a year. God was doing a great work, and the believers were first called Christians at Antioch. v. 26.
We see in the remaining verses (27-30) that this early church was generous in sending relief to their fellow believers in Judea, setting a good example for us to always be generous and never stingy!
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