Author: Dave Dishman (Page 45 of 390)

The first known convert of Paul in Europe was a businesswoman named Lydia. As Paul and his entourage traveled through modern-day Greece, they began a discussion with a group of women at a gathering place just outside of Philippi.

One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Lydia was already warm to the ways of God, and when Paul introduced her to the person of Jesus she responded wholeheartedly. Then she invited Paul and all his party to stay at her home.

Lydia was a wealthy woman. Purple dyes were derived from the glands of a certain type of sea snail. Harvesting these snails and producing the dye took a huge amount of time and effort. Only royalty and other wealthy people wore purple (remember the guards crucifying Jesus robed him in purple and mocked him as the King of the Jews).

Lydia moved among people of means, but despite those connections (or perhaps because of them) she hungered for the living God. It was not a happy accident that Paul met Lydia and introduced her to Jesus. The Lord finds those who seek after him.

Lydia shared her new-found faith with her friends and customers. Then those who latched on to Jesus did the same. Networking spread the good news across the Mediterranean region, and this successful businesswoman formed an early link in that chain of faith.

Acts 16 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Moonstarious Project

Sometimes a situation gets so annoying I have to deal with it. Like a dripping faucet or an aching tooth. Paul experienced a person so annoying he finally took action. Luke recorded the story:

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

Finally breaking, Paul called on the Lord and sent the demonic spirit flying. But then the owners of the girl got mad, having lost their source of easy money. They whipped up a crowd, beat Paul and his buddy Silas and threw them in prison. That night the Lord sent an earthquake and all the prison doors flew open. Distraught, the jailer grabbed his sword to run himself through, thinking the prisoners had escaped.

So much annoyance following one act of goodness. Missionaries beaten, slave owners enraged, customers missing their clairvoyant, townspeople riled up, and a jailer committing harakiri. I assume the demon left annoyed as well.

In the midst of all this swirl stood one young slave girl. Where did she go from there? She was still a slave, and now without any special powers. Her life situation may have actually gotten worse. However, no longer lost to oppression she saw the world clearly, and could choose for herself to embrace the way of Jesus.

The Lord goes to great lengths to bring one lost person to himself, and he doesn’t care who he annoys along the way.

Acts 16 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Lucrezia Carnelos

In high school I joined the Caving Club. Caves riddle the limestone topography of the Ozarks, and our science teacher led a group once a month or so to visit a different cave. Dodging bats in the ceiling, wiggling through tight passages, and emerging as muddy explorers all made for a rollicking good time. I enjoyed spelunking, but never desired to live in a cave. A few hours in a dark hole pushed all of us to yearn for the light of day.

David spent a lot of time in caves hiding from King Saul, and in the darkness putting pen to papyrus. He wrote:

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.

From his refuge in a cave David recognized the refuge of the Lord.

But while a cave makes for a good hide-out, it’s no place to spend your life. David wearied of the cave and prayed, I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out before him my complaint, before him I tell my trouble...set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name.

You and I find ourselves stuck in caves, some of our own choosing and some by life’s circumstances. Regardless, we don’t have to stay there. We too can pray for God’s mercy, asking him to pull us from our dark places. Like with David, the Lord is also our rescuer. He hears our complaints and sets us free.

Psalm 57 & 142 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Justin Zhu

David took off running. Fellow Israelis revealed his hiding place to King Saul and David barely escaped. Saul tightened the noose, but at the last minute a crisis called him away. A close call brought on by the treachery of David’s once trusted neighbors.

David never forgot his betrayers. Even though they were of his own tribe, he called them strangers, ruthless, people without regard for God. David prayed, Let evil recoil on those who slander me; in your faithfulness destroy them.

There’s a boomerang effect to sin. What goes around comes around. David prayed for such action on those who double-crossed him and his men.

It’s an appropriate prayer today. Let the corruption of people who promote evil bubble up and burn them, may their wickedness blow back into their faces. I think of the vicious and profane King Herod who because he did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

What goes around comes around. We should pray for our enemies, that those who commit evil would find Jesus and repent. But following the example of David, we can also pray that they would reap the results of their dishonorable acts and experience the recoil of their evil.

Psalm 54 & Acts 12 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Dmitry Bukhantsov