In the opening verses of Acts 18, we discovered that God’s messengers would need to be encouraged to persevere, but we also know that God’s messengers would need to be protected. Throughout Scripture, there are many ways that individuals and God’s people as a whole are supernaturally protected by stunning divine power. Most notably is the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea after God’s people passed through on dry ground. Then, there are several instances in the book of Daniel, as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are preserved in the fiery furnace, followed by Daniel being kept overnight from the mouths of hungry lions.
However, the most common manner through which God protects his people is the countless ways he providentially governs their lives through his divine oversight. This is accomplished through his sovereignty over the meticulous details of this entire world. This includes the most powerful rulers on earth and the most remote places on the earth. It includes you and me and the most seemingly mundane circumstances of our daily existence, namely when and where you go, whom you encounter and what you say and do. God protects and advances the gospel in such ways because we clearly lack the power to govern all the decisions and events in this world that would result in God getting glory and we also clearly lack the wisdom to arrange the details of everyone’s life so that God’s people are encouraged and the gospel is promoted. This knowledge should produce great confidence and security throughout our lives. It certainly did for the Apostle Paul in his ministry in Corinth and beyond.