Philip and the Ethiopian; a Study in God's Values

“As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia.” (Acts 8:26-27. NLT)

This has always been an interesting story to me, and one that in hindsight seems more clearly significant than it probably seemed to the people involved at the time. It is certainly an example of how God’s values are different from our values.

Philip had just completed what we today would term a highly successful evangelistic campaign, in which the Holy Spirit had manifested Himself in a very powerful way. Many lives had been touched in the city of Samaria. Conventional wisdom would have dictated that he should move on to another city where many more people could be reached for Christ. God Himself however, had a different plan.

An angel of the Lord came to Philip and directed him into the desert. There is no record of an argument between Philip and the angel regarding whether this was the “best use of his resources”, nor is there any record that Philip knew what to expect of his desert journey. Philip obeyed.

One cannot help but wonder whether Philip would have reacted differently, had this order come from a less obvious presence than that of an angel. I also cannot help but wonder if Philip would have reacted differently had he known that he was being sent to reach one lone individual.

I am writing this because I am saddened when I see some ministries that are always asking themselves “where can we go to reach the most people.” They have a good idea, but like many zealous Christians today, they are asking the wrong question. The right question is, of course, “where does God want me to go?”

God always has a plan and sometimes it goes in a different direction than that of “conventional wisdom”. In this story, we are told, by implication, that every individual is important to Him. I would also like to point out that there are many ways that God calls us to bless peoples’ lives besides just telling them how to “get saved”.

The Ethiopian in this story went back to his own country. It is believed that he shared the Gospel with his countrymen. Historically, there has been a large presence of Jews, and Jewish Proselytes in Ethiopia. This man was obviously one of these, given the fact that he had gone to Jerusalem to worship. There has also been a significant presence of Christians in Ethiopia, who trace their roots, not to modern missionary effort, but to this Ethiopian official. I don’t know whether that is historically defensible or not, but that is beside the point. The point is that we don’t know how far reaching our influence may be on a single individual. God knows, even though Philip didn’t. We need to be asking for His direction, and like Philip, obeying.

The book of Acts records that Philip then went up to Caesarea, where he eventually settled (see Acts 21:7-9). He was known as “Philip the Evangelist”. The obvious inference from this is that the Holy Spirit afforded him many more opportunities to exercise his gift. There will be many opportunities for us all to exercise our gifts. We need to remember that it is not about us, and what we think is the best time, place, and manner to exercise them. We need to focus on seeking His direction, even when it leads into the uninhabited desert, to bless the life of one individual.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.