Acts 8:26-27 are not verses in the Bible that will grab your attention. But to me these are some of those verses that just jump off the page at me. No, it’s not the part that says; “Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip.” You see I don’t have a problem with that at all, but what I do struggle with is what the angel of the Lord told him to do, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” You see Philip was hot in Samaria, I mean this guy was part of the greatest work of God since Pentecost. Philip was the MAN; right in the middle of this great work of God and the Lord says, “Go to the desert”.
Now what is obvious is that the Holy Spirit was very specific about His arranging the circumstances. Luke, who is writing to a Gentile not familiar to the area, makes sure that he understands how radical this move of the Holy Spirit was by adding the words, “This is desert.” You see there had been an old Gaza that was destroyed in 93 BC and a new Gaza had been built 35 miles south on the coast. So the road started out from Jerusalem to Egypt then eventually went all the way to Ethiopia (modern day Sudan). It was a 55 mile walk from Jerusalem to Gaza but there was a fork in the road and the Holy Spirit directs Philip to take the road that went by way of the old destroyed Gaza. Do you get it? The Holy Spirit tells Philip to take the road less traveled, abandoned in the desert.
Philip had been hot in Samaria now he was going to be hot literally in old Gaza! Hey folks, say what you want but no one would be able to proclaim that Philip’s move was because of his clever strategic planning and polling of the best places to do an evangelistic crusade. No, in fact if I had been Philip I would have said, “Lord, no way, there is nothing and no one down there, so this can’t be from You.” But instead we read, “So he arose and went.” Wow, that’s the Lord preparing the heart of a servant. I love it; It did not matter “where” Philip was going or “what” he was to do all that mattered was “Who” he was obeying. It was all about serving the Lord. In fact let’s trace the Lord’s work in the life of Philip:
•Served, waiting tables in Jerusalem “Practically”
•Served, as an evangelist in Samaria “Publicly”
•Served, as a teacher to the Ethiopian on a deserted road in Gaza “Personally”
•Served, as a father to his four daughters in Caesarea (Acts 21:9) “Parentally”
You see it did not matter where he was or what he was doing you will always find Philip serving the Lord in obedience. How about you? Does it matter to you what you do for the Lord or where you do it? “Hey, I’m just a mother or a father I don’t do anything for the Lord!” Or, “I just work a 9 to 5 job I don’t do anything for the Lord!” Well don’t tell Philip that! Col. 3:23 says, “whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” What an encouragement for you and I to just obey the Lord to go and do what He wants!