[Paul was imprisoned in Philippi for spreading the Gospel. That night…] Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; at once, all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains fell off… The jailor pulled out his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself; We are all here!” Acts 16:26

[Peter was imprisoned in Judea for spreading the Gospel. That night…] Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there… he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands…So Peter went out and followed the angel… The gate opened for them by itself, and they went out. Acts 12:7-10

Two apostles, two miraculous jail breaks… but God had different plans and outcomes in mind in each situation and was pleased to treat each situation differently. You see, Paul could have run away, just as Peter did, but that wasn’t God’s plan. Peter could have hung around just as Paul did, but that wasn’t God’s plan.

Wisdom is in touch with what God is doing in the moment. It knows when to use previous experience and when to chart new territory for Jesus. It knows when to learn from the experiences of others and when God’s plan for others is not God’s plan for them.

I’m sure Paul could have been thrilled by Peter’s jailbreak experience, and Peter could have been thrilled with Paul’s, but neither saw the other has having followed God’s will wrongly, because how God led them didn’t match up with how God led someone else.

Too often, we read or hear about the testimony of another and in our minds turn a pattern into a principle…We jump to the conclusion that because God works in a particular way in someone else’s experience, this is how God always works—and worse, if God seems to work outside this pattern, it must not be God.

This kind of thinking is not wise.

Consider how many different ways Jesus chose to heal people. One got saliva-soaked mud in his eyes while another was sent away to see a priest. Others were healed in other ways. In all there are 31 healings by Jesus recorded in the Gospels, and few were the same. God shows his eclectic creativity and diverse methods time and time again in the Bible. He simply refuses to stay neatly tucked away in our formulas and patterns.

You might say that God’s character is unchanging, but His ways and means are infinite.

Wisdom learns from how God has worked in others but gives him plenty of room to glorify Himself outside of our boxes.