A whirlwind weekend has left me exhausted but sitting here before You, Father, there is peace and rest. Fill me, use me, as You would. Amen.

Acts 8:26-40 (<<click here to read the passage)

Over the years I have used this particular text a couple of times for a sermon. One of them spoke particularly of Philip “tuned in”. As we should all be, he was tuned into the Holy Spirit’s leading.

In our last passage, he was having a very effective ministry impact in Samaria, and in this passage, the Holy Spirit directs him to a desert road out in the middle of nowhere, giving him the opportunity to speak to one man. And immediately after that impactful encounter, he is swept off to minister in yet another setting!

We do not see one single complaint! Great impact here? Move on. Great impact there? Move on. And he does. He trusts the Spirit’s directives and gives each encounter everything he has for as long as he needs to do so. He was obedient to whatever he was called to do.

Many of us struggle there more than a bit…and it shows. How could we be used of God, if we let go of our hesitancies and just moved forward to wherever He led, whenever He called?

In one of my sermons, I shared a poem by Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister George MacDonald. It is entitled Obedience.

I said, “Let me walk in the fields.
He said, “No; walk in the town.”
I said, “There are no flowers there.
He said, “No flowers but a crown.”

I said, “But the skies are black,
There is nothing but noise and din.”
And He wept as He sent me back;
“There is more,” He said. “There is sin.”

I said, “But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun.”
He answered, “Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone.”

I said, “I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say.”
He answered, “Choose tonight
If I am to miss you, or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given.
He said, “Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in Heaven
To have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town.
He said, “My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for a crown?”

Then into His hand went mine;
And into my heart came He;
And I walked in a light divine,
The path I had feared to see.

Lord Jesus, may we place our hand in Yours. And as You come into our lives may we, too, walk in that “light divine”. Amen.

Mar 13th, 2022, Sun, 7:17 pm