Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-05-09
Divine Directions.

Providence has difficulty in under
standing the mystery of Philips leav-
ing Samaria for the desert. Humanity
speaking, his work was moving along
with great progress and the oppor-
tunity for service appeared greater
there than in the South. Philip
knew that Christ desired him to move
southwark under sealed orders. We
do not know how the messenger of
God made known the Masters will
TO the evangelist, who proved his
faith by Immediately obeying his
Lords command.
Philips spontaneous response re-
vealed his unselfish spirit. 1t put
him in the class with Abraham,
Moses, Elijah. David and Nehemiah,
all of whom dared TO launch out in
compliance with Divine directions.
There is sense of power. when men
are pushed out by Gods call to serv-
ice. The consciousness of being
obedient to the heavenly vision has
made a success of what was appar
emily doomed to be a failure. The
one who follows the leadership of the
risen Lord. never fails. He always
leads us to conquest by opening doors
of service and supplying the needed
power Our God always matches
obedience with opportunity for serv-
ice.
Philip was called from a great
evangelistic campaign TO lead one
soul to our Lord. Our chance meet
ings with strangers present unpar
alleled opportunities to win souls. II
is not always easy to do personal
service. Our Saviour shows His con-
fidence in us when He calls us TO
difficult task Philip was brought
face to face with d man needing help.
He recognized that the sunburned
stranger was a man of high rank,
because he was riding i'll his
chariot He could see that he
was a foreigner. 1t was no mere
chance that brought these men
together. One line of Providence had
brought Philip, during the preceding
two days, from Samaria, where God
had been preparing him to be the
first foreign missionary; another line
had brought thes Ethiopian. through
many years, from idolatry to Judaism
from Meroe to Jesusalem, from the
temple to the desert. There was an
unseen hand that brought each to
that sparsely settled place at the
very moment when the devout gov
eminent official was reading in his
parchment roll the very words that
contained the kernel of the gospel of
Biblical Evangelism.
Philip did not hesitate when he
was ordered to glue himself to the
strangers chariot. He understood, as
he faced his opportunity, why God
had ordered him there. The Eth
opian had an attractive personality.
His position gave him prestige and
power. He had been attracted to the
Jewish faith in his African home. He
proved his devotional spirit by trav-
cling many miles from the Nile to
Jerusalem that he might worship
Jehovah. whom he accepted as the
true God, although he had not as yet
been admitted to the full privileges
of the temple.
The Ethiopian revealed his intel
lectual power. as he read out loud
from the Greek translation of the Old
Testament, seeking to solve the prob
lens presented to him by what he
had learned in Jerusalem of the clash
between Judaism and the Christians.
He believed that Jehovah's law was
perfect, but he could not solve the
problem presented to him by the great
figure of Sufferer, meek and dumb,
swept from the earth by unjust judg-
ment. Philip caught the mans ques-
ton as he heard the Ethiopian read
the words of Isaiah, so he opened the
prompted the invitation for him to in
struct the truth-seeker concerning the
meaning of Gods word.
We have no record of how long they
journey together, but no doubt Philip
a official