One Thing Leads To Another

Galatians 4:13
As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you,

Robert Frost a great poet wrote about the road not taken. He says he came to a point where he had to choose between two roads. He chose the road that had not been taken. He hoped he could use the other road next time but he made the following observation in the third of the four paragraphs of the poem.

“And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.”

Though he wished to come back, he noted that way leads to another way and therefore he may never return. Way leads on to way. One thing leads to another. It starts as one thing it ends as another. It begins simply it ends up complex.

Galatians 4:13-15
(13) As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, (14) and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. (15) Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

Apostle Paul went to Galatia to attend to a serious eye problem. The situation was so bad, that the people sympathized with him and would have given him their eyes to relieve his suffering. He did not go there to preach, but as it always is, one thing led to another and he preached and established the church.

The eye illness seems to have troubled Apostle Paul and many Bible students think it was the thorn in the flesh, 2 Corinthians 12:7. Some think the thorn in the flesh was his broken marriage. But the eye problem seems to be supported by the fact that his handwriting was affected by visibility and therefore he wrote large letters, Galatians 6:11. The book of Romans was written by Tertius, an amanuensis, on behalf of Apostle Paul most likely because of his eyesight challenges, Romans 16:22. That is why where possible Apostle Paul only wrote the last part of his letters.

It is the eye problem that detained him among Galatians. That eye problem led to him eventually preaching to the Galatians. The eye problem was a bad thing and against his choice. However, that one problem against his wish led to something great that he is proud of. Indeed one thing leads to another.

We should note that not all things lead to something better. King David flirting with Bathsheba led to murder and adultery. One thing led to another and it didn’t end well. Samson dating a Philistine led to the loss of eyesight, imprisonment, and death. It remains true that one thing leads to another!

While we may never know where one thing will lead, we can know if God is guiding us. If God guides us, a terrible situation will ultimately end well. Without God’s guidance, even a good thing will lead to a terrible end. Mind your guide and it shall be well when one thing leads to another!

We know that God is guiding us when our lives don’t contradict scripture. When we are prayerfully dependent on God as we do what is humanly possible. The Bible is God’s revealed will and our lives should by God’s grace be aligned to that will. That is what happens when God guides us. When God guides us one thing will lead to another without regrets!

When God guides us we follow by faith. We may not hear Him talking. We may not get visions. We may not get some strange signal. But for every closed opportunity and open opportunity that is consistent with God’s will, we know that God is saying no to this and yes to that. That is how one thing leads to another!

A breakup can lead to another opportunity related or not related to relationships. A job loss can lead to a better job or a flourishing business with more income. A delay in school due to fees or low grades can lead to what looks like a coincidence yet it is God’s plan for a better life. Even the death of a loved one painful as it is can lead to something else. One thing leads to another!

For Apostle Paul, the eye sickness led to the establishment of the church. May God guide us so that the unwanted terrible things happening to us will lead to unprecedented excellence, in Jesus’s name, Amen!

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