Acts 8:26-40 (NRSV)
Read Acts 8:26-40 on biblegateway.com
Verse 26Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) Verse 27So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship Verse 28and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Verse 29Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." Verse 30So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" Verse 31He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Verse 32Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. Verse 33In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth." Verse 34The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Verse 35Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. Verse 36As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" Verse 38He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. Verse 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. Verse 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Devotion
Pay attention! Who knows what means God used to tell Philip to travel that wilderness road? It says an angel, but what does that mean? Was it a winged, visible, glowing, human-like being? Was it an unexplained inner urge to go that road? Was it another errand that drew him there? Or perhaps it was another man or woman mysteriously pointing him in that direction?
All of those possibilities are present when we think of God directing us. But however the message was delivered, Philip paid attention. Visible or invisible, loud or silent, Philip got the message.
It made all the difference. That Ethiopian went home and told the story. Whoever he told it to told another and the Word spread in a distant land. By paying attention, Philip was the conduit of God’s Word. Hopefully, may we be also.
Prayer
Dear God, grab my attention. Amen.