God's Timing
by Dan Jones, M.D.
Acts 8:26-38
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
In this series of devotionals, we examine how the “little things” in our lives can be used by God for His purpose. The physician writer Luke records this story of an encounter between Philip and an Ethiopian official. This was in the earliest days of the church. This Ethiopian official had not had the opportunity to hear the Gospel story. He was clearly a seeker of spiritual things as he had been to Jerusalem to worship and was engaged in reading the book of Isaiah. Philip was directed by an angel of the Lord to go to the place where he would meet the official.
Luke records simply that Philip “told him the good news about Jesus.” The Ethiopian believed and asked to be baptized. Luke outlines for us here the essential elements in sharing the gospel. All that us necessary is an unbeliever prepared by the Holy Spirit and a believer willing to be led by the Holy Spirit to share the story.
During my first year of language school in Korea, I would often spend a weekend working in a clinic in a rural village. It gave me an opportunity to immerse myself in the language and culture. During one of those weekends, after our clinic ended, we spent some time visiting the homes of some of the patients. During one of those visits, the friend I was visiting with asked the Korean farmer if we could spend a few minutes sharing a story. After he consented, my friend asked me to take the lead in presenting the gospel. Since my Korean language was not very developed, I was reluctant to attempt to share the gospel. I had practiced, but had not done a real presentation to a Korean. I knew God could work in mysterious ways, but I had my doubts about the effectiveness of this with my language skills.
After a brief prayer, I shared the gospel from my heart in a very simple way using a Korean language tract as an aid. When we got to the portion of the conversation where we asked him if wanted to pray to receive Jesus, he quickly responded that he did. Wanting to be sure this was a genuine experience and that he had understood the gospel message, I asked a few follow-up questions. In a few moments, with a smile, he told me that he had never heard the name of Jesus before that day, but that he had been waiting for someone to tell him the story he had just heard. Even in that remote village of Korea, this farmer had been prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive the Gospel and to believe in Jesus. Though the language was surely not sufficient, God used even those poor language skills for His Kingdom.
Lord, use me through my weaknesses. Help me commit the small things of life to you.
Dan Jones, M.D., MACP, FAHA, a board-certified Internist, a former medical missionary to Korea, professor of medicine at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Dean of the School of Medicine, and Chancellor of the University of Mississippi until 2015. Dr. Dan Jones is a member of CMDA.
Dr. Jones welcomes any comments or questions about what he has written and can be reached at - djones@umc.edu
Rounds with the Master, Spiritual Pearls from the Great Physician Devotionals are released every Monday and Thursday.
Photo by Juli Kosolapova on Unsplash
