Acts 8: 25-29
Luke continues his report on the formation of early believers and the early church. Deacon Philip who was preaching in Samaria now has the definite feeling he should go to a certain road. Luke calls it an angel speaking to Philip but we may well be able to identify times in our life when we have felt compelled to do something and in hindsight we say, “God led me.” A woman called me and gave me the sales pitch about going to a retreat that cost $200 that I did not have. She finally agreed to pay half if I paid the other. I caved and agreed. I put down the phone and walked to the mail box. There was a check for $200 from an anonymous person in my home church, states away. That never happened before or after. We remember those times.
Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch who is returning home from worshiping in Jerusalem. Now that is weird. Philip, a Jewish believer, in Samaria, meets an Ethiopian probably not-Jew reading Scripture. Eunuch’s were not welcome in Judaism but somehow this man had gone to Jerusalem, possibly on business for the Queen of Ethiopia, found a scripture writing and did not understand what he was reading. Enter Philip. Do we call this coincidence or do we call it the hand of God interfacing with the events of our everyday lives, placing us in the presence of others. Philip who shared with Jews in Jerusalem, who is forced to go to Samaria and shares with watered down Jews, is now sharing with a non-Jew from Ethiopia. The story is spreading but Philip is growing too as he gets further and further from his comfort zone.
How do we experience God working in our lives? Of course through Scripture reading, Bible studies, music and other normal “devotional ways” we feed our souls but sometimes the unexpected compels us into situations that challenge us. I would like us to consider that those are times that God is nudging us in our growth and perhaps helping another, “an Ethiopian,” to grow. Being alert to the workings of the Holy Spirit speaking to us in the events of our lives is a very real way we grow and help each other to grow. Lord, open my eyes and ears and heart that I may recognize you working in my life and help me grab those moments to see coincidence as blessings from you.
Philip simply asked a question, “Do you understand what you are reading?” and offered to chat. Open s serendipidous conversation today, Lord!
On the Way to Wonder 