Based on Acts 26:24-32 (New King James Version)
“Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!’ But he said, ‘I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.’ Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You almost persuade me to become a Christian.’ And Paul said, ‘I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.’ When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them; and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.’ Then Agrippa said to Festus, ‘This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.’”
If a person does God's will, will everything go well for them in this world? Do things go wrong for a person because they don't have enough faith or because they disobeyed God? Does God have favorites, and is that why some people live better than others? Is it a sign of obedience and blessing when things go well for a person, just as it is a sign of disobedience and punishment when things go wrong? Was Paul wrong to appeal to Caesar? Was it God's will for Paul to die, or was it the result of a bad decision? Everything in this life involves decisions and consequences. There are decisions that bring good consequences, and there are decisions that bring bad consequences. And there are decisions that affect our life here in this world, and there are decisions that impact our eternity. What should really matter?
To begin, we will answer the questions based on what we understand in the Word of God, because circumstances and consequences should not dictate what is right or wrong, but rather, what God says. We understand through the facts recorded in the Word that doing God's will does not guarantee a good result in this world. We have the prophets who even represented God in this world, and the vast majority of them fared very poorly, humanly speaking. They were mistreated by their own people, and they were neither rich nor prosperous, but quite the opposite. John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, lived very poorly and died beheaded for speaking the truth. In this same way, we can understand that faith does not necessarily have anything to do with how things go in the here and now. The prophets had such faith that they even spoke with God. And why talk about the incredible wonders God performed through them? This is what the Word says about faith: “Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” Hebrews 11:36-40. We also understand through the Word that God doesn't necessarily have favorites, per se, but rather that those who please God find favor with Him. But as we've seen, that doesn't mean everything will go well for them, as happened to Abraham, Joseph, David, the apostles, and so many others. We read that despite the fact that Stephen was almost like an angel and saw the Lord in heaven sitting at the right hand of the Father, he was stoned to death, all for telling the truth.
Now, was it a mistake for Paul to appeal to Caesar? The most essential thing we need to understand is that the wisest decisions are those that we see the benefits in the long-term and not immediately. At the time, it would have been better for Paul not to have appealed to Caesar, but seeing the passage of time in Paul's life following that decision, God used him greatly because he was able to be in places and do things he wouldn't have done had he made a different choice. It was God's will, therefore, that it was such a blessing that we still have the greatest benefit from what Paul decided, because Paul wrote much of what we have in the Bible today from his arrest until his death. God used even imprisonment and tribulation in Paul's life to produce the greatest blessings we have today, hundreds of years after the events.
And why was Paul so accurate? Paul was always looking ahead, toward the future, to what comes after this temporary and passing world. Paul wasn't, per say, weighing his present circumstances as more important than the coming future. What was Paul thinking, and what should we all think about more if we desire to obtain eternal life and God's eternal rewards? We must always think about God's opinion and His great judgment at the end, where everything we do here will be seen and judged not according to our opinions, and even less so, according to the opinions of the world and society, but rather, according to God's standard. And this should put into perspective what really concerns us, if we are wise. This is what the Word says: “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12. “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” 2 Corinthians 5:9-11a. Ultimately, Paul sought only to do the Father's will because he knew he would be judged based solely on that and nothing else. So, if this is the only thing that truly matters, should we place so much value on everything else, especially on this world, on well-being, on comfort, on everything that a person who doesn't know God seeks? No. Whether things are going well or badly for us here and now should begin to become irrelevant. This is what the Lord taught us about how we should pray: “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10. And he also taught this: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:21. Paul had his sights set on this, and we should also have the same goal: “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” Romans 14:7-9. Our decisions, even the smallest ones, must always contemplate God's will and what He wants us to do, regardless of the circumstances or consequences. Everything in this world will end one day, but those of us who seek to do the Father's will shall live forever enjoying the fruit of our actions if we make the right decisions in God's eyes. Anyone who seeks to do their own will in this world will lose their soul, guaranteed, no matter what faith they profess to have. So, do you decide for Christ and to do the Father's will, without considering the consequences that may be suffered now? Lord bless! John. God bless Israel!