In the Old Testament, I’m reminded of Joseph and how he was a witness in Egypt too—his master’s house, how he was even a witness in the prison where he ended up, and then in the government of Egypt. These are all the places where he was scattered, and he proclaimed the Lord where he was sent.
We could say the same for Daniel and his three friends—they were scattered to Babylon, and yet they proclaimed the Lord where they were sent.
But this is not just what the Lord teaches us to do if we are impressive individuals like Joseph or Daniel—this is the commanded Scripture for all people.
Wherever they are, they are to think of Jeremiah’s words to the exiles in Babylon—how they were to be in the place where they had been scattered. They were to build houses and live in them. They were to plant gardens and eat their produce. They were to seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which they had been carried into exile, and they were to pray to the Lord for the city—because in its prospering, they too would prosper.
The rest of Acts is similar, whether it’s Paul and Silas ending up in Philippi, even though they wanted to go to Asia and Bithynia. But that’s where they met Lydia—that’s where the gospel was first proclaimed in Europe.
Paul even ends up getting shipwrecked on Malta, but he ministers to the islanders.
