“But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Arise and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” And he arose and went; and behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch…And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.” Acts 8:26,27-35
As I read through the book of Acts there is one
word that I repeatedly underlined….’immediately’. When Peter commanded the lame
man to get up and walk ‘immediately his
feet and his ankles were strengthened’ in Acts 3:7. Sapphira lied to Peter
in Acts 5:10 and ‘she fell immediately at
his feet, and breathed her last’. God acted, the Holy Spirit healed and men
listened and obeyed to His voice immediately. He spoke and they went.
When our children were little, they were often
prone to what we liked to call ‘delayed obedience’. Instead of doing something
that we asked them to do, when the time came for discipline, they would say
they were going to do it later. We soon coined the phrase ‘delayed obedience is
disobedience’.
Philip was told to go to a specific road and he did
just that. As a result he was able to share the good news about Jesus and the
Ethiopian believed and was baptized. What would have happened if Philip had
waited? Would he have missed the opportunity to see another come to Christ? He
definitely would have missed the blessing that God had in store for both him
and the Ethiopian.
What about you? Is your heart soft towards the
moving of the Holy Spirit and are you quick to obediently do what He whispers
into your ear to do? Or do you make excuses for why you cannot do it today, or
why people might think you were strange if you did that.
God asks for our immediate obedience to His call.
Remember, delayed obedience is disobedience.
Dear Heavenly
Father,
Thank you
that you are still at work today, speaking to us and showing us the way we
should go. Help me to listen well and be obedient to what you are asking me to
do. Amen
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