Cultivating a Forever Faith: Lessons from Priscilla and Aquila Chikamu

Prepared by Suffering 

The first reference to Priscilla and Aquila occurs in Acts 18:

“After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.” (Acts 18:1-3)

Overnight, everything Priscilla and Aquila knew was taken away from them. Their departure from Rome was not a voluntary migration. A political decree forced them to leave behind the life they knew. Less than a decade later, when Claudius died and the new emperor, young Nero, removed former sanctions, Priscilla and Aquila returned to Rome, which suggests that they had strong ties with that city. It was the place they called home.

Their expulsion from Rome would have been painful on many levels. They would have left behind dear friends and business ties. Left behind the familiar and the loved. Left it under extraordinary duress, because Claudius’s command would not have come with the luxury of timely packing and deep pockets. They would have been banished from their home in a hurry, and they would have had to bear the expense of their travels.

It is easy to jump over this verse, seeing it as a mere detail in the background of the story to come. But to me, this is a key revelation. Before Aquila and Priscilla were ready to partner with Paul, before they were to become influential leaders in the early church, before they could become world-shapers and church planters, they had to face hardship.

This loss, this sorrow, was the training ground for what was to come. The Priscilla and Aquila who served alongside Paul—who prayed with him, taught with him, and faced danger with him—had to first be shaped by their own pain.

That pain was not wasted. It was not a throwaway detail of their lives. It was a preparation.

We often think of the hardship seasons of our lives as a waste. A horror we would sooner bypass. But in Scripture, we find a different pattern. Frequently, the seasons of suffering are used by God to temper his people for what is to come. 

Last year, I visited the only working tea plantation in all of the US, a beautiful farm located in Charleston, South Carolina. One thing I learned during our tour was that they put the young tea plants through an enforced drought several times. The droughts cause the young plants to grow deeper roots, making them stronger. Does our Father, who is the perfect gardener of people, also allow droughts to give us a chance to set deeper roots in him? To grow stronger in character and in Spirit? 

Suffering comes as a tempering fire of the steel of our souls. Joseph could not have filled the shoes of the great leader he became if he had not moldered in a jail cell first. David could not have become the first king who expelled Israel’s enemies and unified the kingdom if he had not himself been expelled from Saul’s palace. Daniel could not have had the influence he had with the Median king if he had not spent a night with ravenous lions.

If you are going through a season of heartbreak and hardship, set your focus on this truth. God may be preparing you. Tempering your soul for what is to come. Instead of growing angry with God, running from him, or resisting him, use this time to join forces with him. Ask him to prepare you for the unfolding of his story in your life.

Prayer

Lord, I give you permission to have your way in my life. I give you permission to use the hard seasons, the painful losses, the shattered dreams of my life to temper my soul. Protect me from discouragement and bitterness. Help me to cling to you rather than to sorrow or self-pity. Help me to trust you. Prepare me, Lord, that I may live for your glory.

Additional Verse and Blessing

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)

As you contend with seasons of travail, may Jesus himself restore you. May he confirm you in your inmost being. May he strengthen and temper your soul so that you may stand. May he establish you so that you are able to fulfill your calling in this world.