Acts 10:19-23

I love how specific the Holy Spirit is with Peter—three men have come looking for him: Cornelius’ two servants and a soldier. Peter is not to worry, for God has sent them to him.

Again, why might Peter worry about this? They are Gentiles, and one is a Roman soldier. Peter is not accustomed to entertaining Gentiles in his home or associating closely with them. Yet, between the vision God gave Peter about not calling anything unclean and the specific instructions given by the Holy Spirit, Peter is willing to meet them and asks why they have come. The men explain how an angel appeared to Cornelius and instructed him to summon Peter and bring him to his house so that he could hear Peter’s message.

I am not sure Peter would have obliged without the vision and the confirmation of the Holy Spirit.
Nevertheless, Peter welcomes them to spend the night, as it is late in the afternoon and they have a full day’s journey ahead of them the next day.

Customs and traditions are hard things to violate. Depending on how we are brought up, there are some things so ingrained in us that it is difficult to break from custom or tradition.

Peter was about to violate everything he knew as a Jew, yet he had the assurance of God’s hand upon him, and his obedience was about to open the Gospel to the Gentiles.

God often stretches us beyond what feels familiar in order to accomplish something far greater than we can see in the moment. Peter’s willingness to obey the Holy Spirit, despite centuries of tradition and personal discomfort, became the doorway through which the Gospel reached the Gentiles. What seemed like a simple act of obedience—welcoming strangers into his home and traveling with them—was actually part of God’s redemptive plan for the nations. We must remember that God’s ways are higher than our ways, and sometimes His greatest work happens when we are willing to lay aside our own understanding, traditions, and fears to simply say, “Yes, Lord.”