Ep 374 – Acts 2:1-4

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. Contrary to popular belief, those words are not from the Bible, but are the lyrics from a hymn penned by William Cowper in 1774. But while not Scripture, they do reflect the words of Paul found in Romans 11:33: "Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!" And they certainly illustrate the unexpected and inexplicable way in which God worked on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit arrived on the scene. The events described by Luke in Acts 2:1-4, are extraordinary and certainly not what the disciples had been anticipating. In fact, they had been completely in the dark as to exactly what was going to happen when the promised Holy Spirit showed up. All they had known was that Jesus had commanded them to return to Jerusalem and wait. And so, they had. What was going to happen remained a mystery to them. And, if while they waited, they happened to think back on the words of God found in the book of Isaiah, they would have realized that what was going to happen was not going to be what they expected. "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine" (Isaiah 55:8 NLT).