We have considered Paul’s tears in his service, and Paul’s tears as he warned the Ephesian elders about what was going to come. What then is our resource in these days? The apostle did not leave these elders, or ourselves today, without anywhere to turn.

First he tells us we need to watch. We need to be on guard. We must remember that we are on a battleground, not a playground. We should expect that, whether from outside or from among true Christians, difficulty and false teaching will come. We must be on guard. As the Lord Jesus told us, “Watch and pray” (Mk. 13:34).

“And now I commit you to God.” God is unchanging and unchangeable. If there are questions about the teaching or practice which we see or hear, we need our God who is able to reveal His mind to us through the Word by His Spirit (Mt. 16:17; 1 Cor. 2:10–16; Ps. 119:105). This may require much dependence on Him, and much patience, too, as we wait on Him to know how to answer some false teaching or false practice that has come. He has the answer, if we are willing to look to Him!

Our third resource is the word of His grace. In the Old Testament they had the word of His law. Now we have the word of His grace. May we not be like the Sadducees to whom the Lord Jesus had to say, “Ye err, not knowing the Scriptures” (Mt. 22:29). May it be our food and source of rejoicing every day. The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Word of God, saw all that would come in the history of the Church on earth, and has provided for us in what is written.

The difficult days that Paul foresaw have now come. May we count on our God, and may we learn more of the word of His grace!