Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

Imagine with me if you were hired to be a public speaker for a conference or convention. You had hours of preparation and time invested in your speeches, and you have a specific plan for delivering your thoughts for maximum impact for the listener.

Now imagine a heckler in the crowd. He is a possessed person that spouts out revelations about the future and distracts the listeners. This person is not really helping people in life, but more of an intriguing personality.

I imagine if this were me, I would be incredibly frustrated at the disruption. And Paul was feeling annoyed as well. And so he used his God-given power to cast out this spirit. And then the woman’s masters were angry.

We see that Paul was annoyed and this reminds me of the story of Elisha cursing the youth and calling on bears to maul them for making fun of him.

When we look at this passage, we see that even God’s workers can get annoyed at times. Ideally this annoyance is kept under control. But there is also a warning here – don't annoy a called prophet or apostle of God!

King David says this: “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (‭‭Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭16‬-‭17‬)

Will I humbly serve God amidst the noise of this world, or will I allow my personal preferences and feelings to dictate my actions?

Thank you, Lord, for your truth here that motives matter! May I go back to you and purify my heart and deal with my human responses with discipline, so they will be under your direction. Yoke me to you, I pray! May I not deviate!