Monday, January 9, 2023

So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.”

Acts 8:30-33

This eunuch had just left the temple and could have chosen to be offended by what had happened there. After all, he was a eunuch who was not allowed into the assembly. He could have said, this God treats me no differently than anyone else, so I will abandon Him as he has abandoned me. But there was something about God that resonated with this man. He wanted to know more. I am sure he had heard the old stories of Zion and about the great things Yahweh had done. He thought to himself: “There must be hope for me.” The Word of the Lord states that God puts eternity in our hearts. We all want more. We all know there must be more.

What about you? The Word of the Lord says in Philippians 3:12 that not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Apostle Paul, father of the Gentile church and author of most of the New Testament, states that he has not laid hold of it, and certainly has not perfected it. But he ran after, pressed, and sought to lay hold of the one who apprehended him.

PRAYER: Lord, this is a new year filled with new possibilities and challenges. Despite what is ahead of me, I want to begin 2023 with you at the helm of my heart. Give me the desire and power to pursue you like this eunuch pursued you. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen