So, Paul the Apostle, really wanted to go to Rome. He had a good reason to. He wanted to build up the new church there and to pour into the believers. It seemed, though, that every time he tried to go, something kept him back.
"I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles." ~Romans 1:11-13 NIV
I don’t know what it was that kept him back. Maybe he was about to board the boat when the trip got cancelled. Maybe the boat headed out early and he got left behind. Maybe he was ready to go and something came up last minute and he had to stay. It could have been any of those kind of little hiccups that big-time screw with your plans. Maybe it was something more than that and he couldn’t get away from his current ministry or gather up the funds for the trip. I don’t know why he couldn’t go, but I know this: God didn’t want Paul to go to Rome yet. I’m sure Paul asked God to give him a way to Rome, but God was saying no.
If I were in Paul’s place, I imagine I just would not be able to understand what God was thinking. I might have said, “God, I really want to help these people. This is the kind of thing you tell us to do. Why aren’t you helping me, here?” It turns out, there was something God wanted Paul to do before he went to the church.
Since Paul longed to go to Rome but couldn’t, he did what he could do. He wrote a letter — and he had no idea what this letter would become. Maybe a hundred years later, the New Testament was put together, and this letter is now its sixth book, the book of Romans. It became a powerful explanation of the Christian faith and has helped countless millions of believers over the centuries. Paul probably didn’t think that anyone read his letter besides the church in Rome, and I doubt he would have thought people would still be reading it two thousand years later. If Paul had been able to go to Rome earlier, he wouldn't have written it.
Maybe you’ve been asking God for something and he hasn’t given it to you. Maybe circumstances are getting in the way, screwing with your plans. Are you wondering why God hasn’t answered your prayer? He has answered — "No." Isn’t "no" an answer? There could be something behind that "no" that you can’t see — something better God has in mind for you. As for the stuff that's getting in the way of your plans, God could have a reason for that too. So instead of worrying or getting mad at God that you didn’t get your way, just faithfully do what lies directly ahead of you. Trust Him and you will see his plans unfold.
It might turn out that the “no” is actually a “not yet.” Paul eventually made it to Rome — not in the way you would expect though. His story is pretty crazy — including divine weather forecasting, shipwrecks, snack bites, a random island that sounds like some kind of ice cream, and being chained to a soldier by a two-foot chain all day every day...for, like, two years. Check it out in Acts 27 to 28.
