Go Into The Desert...
Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)
(Acts 8:26-29 NKJV) Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,
saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down
from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert. {27} So he arose and went.
And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under
Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her
treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, {28} was returning.
And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. {29}
Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot."
I have just come from an unusually productive meeting which saw the
first steps taken to planting a new church. It arose out of a series
of apparently nonsensical "coincidences of God". A series of events
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that at first just seemed
frustrating and pointless. When God is about to do something great
it sometimes starts with an apparently daft instruction. Phillip was
having a revival and was told by an angel to go out into the desert.
It is hard to have a great ministry in the middle of nowhere - but
Phillip went and had an encounter that church history says led to
the conversion of Ethiopia.
Spirit-led obedience to a "daft" command is better than the "wisest"
planning of men. No human committee would have sent Phillip out into
that desert! But the Holy Spirit did! God knows the inter-connections
of history, He alone can tell where events will lead. Last week I
reached a million people with the gospel for the first time ever. I
am not sharing this as a fleshly boast but to testify how God did it
- almost without me. A columnist for a newspaper chain saw an article
of mine in Eternity Online Magazine and asked if he could use my
material from time to time in his column which is read by a
million people! So I am "preaching" to a million - because God made
the connections! Its God! All God!
God does exciting things for those who love Him and are willing to
go out into the desert when He says so. Jesus also went out into the
desert under the power of the Holy Spirit and fasted 40 days and 40
nights under the power of God and transformed history. He met and
defeated Satan and came back in mighty healing power. God's "daft"
commands are glorious for the foolishness of God is wiser than the
wisdom of men. (1 Cor 1:18-21 NKJV) For the message of the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved
it is the power of God. {19} For it is written: "I will destroy the
wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent." {20} Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the
disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this
world? {21} For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom
did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the
message preached to save those who believe.
To go out into the desert involves three key beliefs:
1. That ALL God's commands are wise and good and should be obeyed.
2. That obedience is more important than personal significance.
3. That God does surprising things and we do not know what will flow
from a comparatively minor act of obedience.
When Phillip went out there he did not know what he was to do. The
instruction was simply to be there. For all he knew it might have
been to go and look at a rock! The instructions came later and the
results even later still. Phillip was not told the successful end,
just the strange beginning. With God it is one step each day, one
part of the puzzle at a time. Then in the end the divine surprise and
the miraculous result. This weekend seek God's face, obey His
instructions, do the minor things and "go out into the desert" at His
command - you may be delighted at what you find there!
Prayer:
Lord, lead us in Your paths - though they be strange they will always
be good. Let us be sensitive to what you are doing and help us to
join in with Your purposes and in Your redemptive history. Amen.
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John Edmiston ([email protected])
Editor - Eternity Online Magazine http://www.eternity-magazine.org/
Cults, exegesis, bible teaching, Christian life and leadership.
For the thinking Christian!