Halaman Utama > Renungan > God's Vision for Phi...

Does God speak to us? As a father knows how to communicate with his children, so does our God because He is our Heavenly Father who has unlimited love for all of us. Our Father in Heaven speaks to us in many ways and He knows best how to communicate with us.

ACTS 8:26 (NIV)
²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road-the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."

God uses many ways to show His will to us. Through His angel, God directed Philip when and where he must go. He instructed Philip to go south to the "desert road" where there would be no one there. Philip must thought that this was strange, but he trusted God and he obeyed immediately. God's ways are not our ways; sometimes His words are difficult to digest by our own logical reasoning.

For God to call Philip from a thriving ministry in Samaria to the place where there would be no people is not a rational move. This is why many Christians doubt God's command sometimes. We don't trust God's vision will do good for us and we complain about the road He has sent us down. But we must remember that God knows exactly the best thing for our life and He has our best interest at heart.

God instructed Philip to go south without telling him whom would he meet and what did he suppose to do. In a way God wanted to test Philip's obedience too. Having met this test, we have prepared ourselves to be led farther. Because when we take that step, further guidance will be given and the Lord will lead us to the desired destination. God won't lead us further if we never take the step. God tested on Samuel too. Samuel heard a voice calling his name and he thought it was Eli, but Eli said he had not called him. This happened three times until Eli realized it was God speaking to Samuel and told Samuel to answer, " Speak Lord" if He called again. It was then God began to tell Samuel His plan for him.

ACTS 8:27-28 (NIV)
²⁷ 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, ²⁸ and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.

Philip obediently obeyed what God asked him to do without asking His motives. Obedience to God's commands is the key to success. Philip set out on his way, and he met an important official in charge of all treasury of the Ethiopians queen.

This Ethiopian is the picture of believers who have desire to learn about words of God. We can read from the passage that he had gone to Jerusalem to worship and on his way home he was reading the book of prophet Isaiah in his chariot. Do we have desire like this man had? Do we bring words of God home with us after attending church?

This man lived in Africa. It would be hard to imagine a man would travel that far from Africa-Ethiopia to Jerusalem by chariot, to go worship. This Etiopian man encountered with Philip, God's special delegate who guided him to know Him. Anyone who is seriously looking for God will get a special favor from God like this Ethiopian eunuch.

PSALM 68:31 (NKJV)
³¹ Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God.

God wants Philip to be obedience to God's vision, no matter how irrational His vision was to him; and to put aside ambition and serve Him sincerely. On the other hand, God also has a great plan for the Ethiopian man: to fulfill the prophecy stated in Psalm 68. The Psalm was a prophecy that the Ethiopians will extend their hands seeking for God, which was fulfilled in Acts 8. Philip obeyed and his obedience brought him to this Ethiopian man who happened to be a very important person in his country and later that man would evangelize the Ethiopian people. The vision of hope was being shared all over nations and all the way to Ethiopia.

Because of the eunuch's desire to worship God, Ethiopian submitted herself to God. Good things happen when people seek God. God will give us His favor in return and send His angels to protect us. He will send someone like Philip to cross our path.

Many sick people called me (Handoyo Santoso) to pray for them. I told them to come to church since I know they were still able to. But sometimes they don't want to do that, and asking me to come to them instead. Compare this to the eunuch who had to go across the continent to worship God. Have a yearning desire to worship God! Our focus must be on the Lord. Worship is not a social time and it doesn't just happen because "that's what Christians do on Sunday". Worship has a special meaning and purpose for people who really love God.

ACTS 8:29 (NKJV)
²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot."

The Spirit commanded Philip to go near and overtake eunuch's chariot. It was not easy for Philip to overtake the chariot by foot. But nothing is impossible if God has commanded to do that.

God's command to go near eunuch's chariot was in order to be able to communicate. The key to the successful communication is the ability to walk together, to empathize what others are going through. This does not mean that we have to take the road they had taken. In order to communicate with a drugs-addicted son, the parents don't have to be addicted too. But why there are a lot of unsuccessful communications; sometimes they even lead to quarrels? Because there is no closeness and understandings between them. After Philip was near, Philip had to overtake the chariot. To "overtake the chariot" means to have the ability to lead other people.

Paul also taught us the same thing as Philip did. He wrote a letter to reassure the believers in Thessalonica that he cared about them. He encouraged, comforted and urged them to live lives worthy of God, like a father help his children and encourage them to be good (1 Thessalonians 2:11). Closeness like father to his children is a motivational support in ministry's work. A minister has to have that kind of relationship with his church in order for him to be able to pass God's message, wisdoms, encouragement or even personal messages from God.

ACTS 8:30 (NIV)
³⁰ Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.

Philip could hear the eunuch reading Isaiah the prophet because he was really close to the chariot. In order to start a conversation, we must approach that person. Then it follows with sincerity from the heart and closeness in perception. Although sometimes the true closeness doesn't always concern with distance because as long as both parties have the oneness in their heart and same insight for the hope, they still serve the purpose.

Philip was able to catch up the chariot by foot. This was possible because he put his faith into action. If God asks us to do something that means He knows that we can, for He has equipped every one of us with what we need to do that. But without action, vision is useless!

Philip caught up with the chariot and then what next? Did God give another assignments for him? No. God gave each of us intelligence so we can learn and think. God will not give vision for every unnecessary thing. He will not give vision for what color of clothes one wants to buy or which restaurant to go. There are things in life that we must figure out for ourselves.

"Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked the Ethiopian eunuch. Like Philip, a good minister should ask his church if they really understand God's message too. Reading the whole Bible doesn't make people better Christians or more informed unless they understand what they are reading. On the other hand, Philip had to be able to explain if the eunuch asked him anything. God holds His ministers responsible to carry out the Good News to all people. This means that God's minister has to have a good knowledge because he needs to communicate with a lot of people, from various age, education, and social status. It is the Holy Spirit that makes a minister an overseer of God's flock. The Spirit must stay in his heart so he knows what to say and do.

ACTS 8:31 (NIV)
³¹ "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Surprising! The eunuch just came back from worshipping and yet he didn't understand God's message. This is why God's ministers must be able to teach and explain God's message carefully to their churches. We must be aware of false teachings in the Christian church nowadays. False teachers with false doctrine still deceive us today. Some churches still teach their members to just sing and jump around and ask them to pray to God for their pockets to be filled with money. The misleading messages of false prophets can give comfort in vain and this is dangerous to Christians. Believers need every word that God has spoken and we need the right teachers for our faith-growing journey.

Philip was centered in the gospel and he knew the answer to the eunuch's scripture questions, this was why he was invited into the chariot. If we have the knowledge and understanding of the subject people is talking about, we don't have to ask to be invited into deep conversation. Many parents don't understand their teens' problems. Therefore teens often shut down from their parents, they feel that their parents won't understand anyway, and so why bother? And they are afraid if their parents will be adding their own existing problems. Parents should learn from Philip so they can be invited into their teens' chariot and together they will solve the problems.

ACTS 8:39-40 (NIV)
³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Philip has completed his work. He successfully told the Ethiopian eunuch the Good News about Jesus. God regarded the eunuch as VVIP by sending Philip for one man. God also regarded Philip who obeyed God's command as VVIP: traveled a long distance by foot to meet the Ethiopian and now God sent the Spirit to magically "carry" him to the next destination place, Azotus. God also honored Philip to baptize an important government official in charge of his nation's treasury. It's because from the very first time God instructed Philip to go somewhere, Philip never argued with God or questioned why. He didn't complain about a sudden changed plan for his life. He just "rose and went". God honored Philip for his obedience to God.

Philip didn't expect that he would be taken away suddenly to Azotus. God just did that without telling Philip. Sometimes God gives us vision. Other times God speaks into our conscience, bringing to our attention things for our consideration, illuminating our understanding, bringing scriptures to our remembrance. Many times we have to go forward in obedience without knowing what the final result will be. But we know that He will be watching us and smoothening our paths. Whatever ways God leads us, we must obey unhesitatingly because the results of obedience to Him are good and that we are inside His will. Trust Him and He will honor us and lead us in His way, in paths of peace and righteousness for His Name's sake. Amen.