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." Acts 26:30-32

The second thing I notice about the aftermath of Paul’s trial before King Agrippa II is that Agrippa would have happily released Paul since the charges against him were bogus. Never mind that Paul had been under arrest for over two years!

When things like this happen, it is easy to kick ourselves saying, “If only I’da!” Paul may have thought, “If only I’da not appealed to Caesar, I would be free to go now!” I say Paul might have thought this, but we do not know. One thing we do know about Paul, he was a firm believer in the sovereignty of God over all things.

Knowing that about Paul, I rather think that he was not moaning “If only I’da!” Rather, I can more easily imagine Paul thinking, “Maybe I could have been released, but since I am not, I wonder what God has in store as I go to Rome.” And for those of us who are familiar with the rest of Acts, God had plenty in store for Paul as he went to Rome.

We cannot know the future. We can only make the wisest decisions we can, trusting God that if things change, He is still very much in control. Let us not out beat ourselves up when decisions we made earlier turn out differently from what we knew and imagined. Let us ask God for wisdom (James 1:5-6), make the wisest decisions we know to make, and then live with the future that unfolds, knowing that God is in control. Let us not waste time bemoaning over the “If only I’da’s!”