Assignment: God's Help
Sometimes, God gives us an assignment when someone is in need of help.
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.) 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. But 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. - Acts 8:26-40
The assignment God gave Philip seems odd at first.
Why would God want Philip to go to an Ethiopian official traveling on the road to Gaza?
But on his arrival, Philip sees that the Ethiopian is reading from the Prophet Isaiah, and he doesn't understand what he is reading.
So, it was the Ethiopian's actions that got God's attention.
This is not about Philip at all. It is about God's love for us, all of us, regardless of who we are or what we grew up believing.
The Ethiopian started the ball rolling when he opened the scroll and started reading because he was eager to learn what the words meant.
Is that all it takes for God to send someone to us to guide us and help us understand?
In this one passage, we can begin to understand the role of the angels as well as our role as believers.
Now we may not think we have encountered an angel the way Philip did, but the passage doesn't really tell us how the angel spoke to him. Perhaps it was just a message in his head, or in a dream.
Think about a time when you just happened to be in the right place at the right time to help someone in need.
It may have been something so simple you had forgotten all about it, but to that other person, it could have been a memory they cherished.
Our call to God for help may not be a call at all, but an action, like the Ethiopian opening the scroll and reading.
Or it may be thinking of someone who is ill and feeling you should show up at their hospital bed when they need it most.
Our actions get God's interest and He sends help.
Other people's actions do the same, and like Philip, the help may be us.
More to come...