Acts 16:14- A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
Did you catch what this verse said? There was a lady, Lydia, listening to Paul teach. Now I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but I do believe old Paul could preach a good message. Not good by this world's standards, but he had some "good seed" he was slinging out as he talked.
What happened next did not happen because this woman prayed for understanding. We have no record of her praying, asking God to help her make sense of what Paul was saying. But what happens next is something that I think a lot of folks tend to forget.
"And the Lord opened her heart to respond...." It wasn't Paul who did this. Paul was simply being obedient in what he was teaching. God had given him the message, and as far as Paul was concerned his only obligation was to handle the word correctly, and speak it. But here in this mix we see a Sovereign God bring intersection between His word, and a woman who needed to hear it. Don't casually roll over the words of this verse around in your heart and mind. Fully understand the way God interacts with us.
What power God must possess that He can push thoughts away, drive down human intellect, and clear a path so that His word can go to the very center of this woman. There was purpose in this action. God wanted her to hear this truth, not for truth's sake, but for her to be brought into His Kingdom plans.
Now, the other part of this interaction between God and Lydia, we sometime glaze over not giving it much thought at all. That little group of words also found in the verse from Acts 16. "She was a worshiper of God." More than music....more than praise choruses, her very life was worship unto God. Maybe we should take stock in our own lives and ask, "Am I a worshiper of God?" or do we worship other things? Might not be a bad time to take a spiritual inventory of our personal life and values to see where we stand. If we choose to do so, keep in mind we don't get to make the final decision, we ask God to show us the truth about ourselves. And if we don't like what God is showing us, do we change? Or do we push His view aside to convince ourselves that we are o.k. spiritually?
Personally, I want to be like Lydia. I want to be a true worshiper of God, placing myself in a position where I can hear Him when He moves upon my heart. Thanks for letting me share this morning.
God on you....
Michael b.
No comments:
Post a Comment