Daily Devotion – April 29, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Acts 8:26-40
8:26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.)
8:27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship
8:28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
8:29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.”
8:30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
8:31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.
8:32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
8:33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
8:34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
8:35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.
8:36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?”
8:38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
8:39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
8:40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
A very interesting day for Philip.
An angel sends him out on a road through the wilderness. On the road he encounters a eunuch who is a high finance official of the queen of Ethiopia. Philip is paying attention and discovers the eunuch is reading from Isaiah, and Philip asks if he can be of help.
The eunuch welcomes the help, and once Philip reads and explains the passage, he continues to teach the eunuch about Jesus. He is clearly a persuasive teacher, as the eunuch wants to be baptized in Jesus’s name, and Philip baptizes him.
Then, just as they are leaving the water, Philip is taken up; Philip vanishes! The eunuch, left with only his driver, goes on his way rejoicing. And Philip finds himself at a different city – Azotus – where he continues preaching.
This has never happened to me.
It may also never have happened to you.
But I am certain that God has encouraged both you and me to go out some days and then placed people on our paths, people we are uniquely suited to help. We may have even helped them. But have we considered that that encounter may have been a mission from God on that day – that in fact God wants us to bear the fruit of love? That God has particular people in mind to receive that gift from us?
Gracious God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for having missions in mind for us. Help us to hear you when you are sending us out, and to give that love away generously.  Amen.
