Pray As You Go: A Surprise in the Wilderness

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Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a wilderness road.) So 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 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now 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. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.’ The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’

Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As 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?’ He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When 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. Acts 8:26-39

The apostle Philip is guided by an angel along an unlikely road, a wilderness road. How is the road that you are on at the moment? Does any part of it feel like a wilderness?

The angel has a surprise in store for Philip and the Ethiopian. God was at work in the wilderness. How is God at work in your life in these days?

Notice the energy and joy in this encounter. Philip was guided by the angel and then acted as a guide himself. He received and then he gave.

What has God given you that you want to share with others? Talk to the angel of the Lord about this.

Pray As You Go reading for 30 April 2020. Bill Crowe, a faithful Daily Meditations reader sent this to me. It was so good, I had to share it.

Notice again the progression. We are guided, then we guide. We receive, then we give. And don’t miss the irony. The apostle Philip gives true riches to a person who managed the entire treasury of the queen.

There’s something greater than money. The eunuch did not have it. That means that the wealthy have needs and the poor have something to give. Where is God guiding you? What do you have that you can share?

Generosity, during the pandemic and beyond, comes into view not as the size of a gift or coming from people with wealth but as taking a posture of receiving and giving.

Let us be obedient conduits of material and spiritual blessing. In so doing, our generosity will surprise people in the wilderness of these hard times.