Lydia was a seller of purple from Thyatira in Macedonia, the trade centre for beautiful cloth. The elite of the ancient world prized this fabric because of its expensive dye, secreted from hundreds of sea snails. As you may imagine, the time-consuming process was expensive, and the locals associated Tyrian purple with power and wealth. Today, purple is the color of kings and coronations.
One
Sabbath, a group of women gathered on the plain by the river outside Philippi,
where Mount Pangaeus rose to the town’s west. Lydia, a Jewess, and several
women, met there to worship God. Paul, the apostle, and his missionary team had
arrived in Philippi, and they also sought a restful location where they could
pray. They discovered Lydia and her friends by the river.
This
occasion reminds me of when I stood on a cliff as the sun rose over South Australia’s
Encounter Bay. While the salty scent filled my nostrils, I sensed the breeze
on my skin and reveled in the bay’s majestic beauty. Cliffs on either side enclosed
a sparkling ocean as the waves ebbed and flowed to the shore, the only sound to reach my ears. I was attending a weekend Bible camp. As I stood and I gazed out
to sea, I sensed God’s presence in the sea’s power and the rugged landscape.
This was my solitary place where I could meet with him.
Sometimes
we experience just as poignant and significant worship during a church service.
Although the setting creates ambience, God is the focus of our love and
adoration because we recognize his love and power.
Lydia knew
about God, but Paul’s open-air sermon explained how Jesus Christ died and rose
again for her sins. He introduced her to Jesus, and he became her Lord, Savior,
and Friend. Her entire household received both the message and baptism, and she
persuaded Paul and his team to stay at her home. Her prominence and her
respectability provided Paul with a crucial location in Philippi to establish a
new church.
These
events speak to me on two levels.
The
women at the riverbank prayed. God answered their prayers and Paul introduced them
to Jesus.
When I worship
God, he will respond, but I need to be still and alert to his voice. If I miss his
answer, I’m probably rushing through life and forgetting to set aside time to
read and pray. Where is my “riverbank?” When we find a quiet place and read his
word, he’ll deepen our relationship with the Lord Jesus. We open our hearts and
wait to learn patience and trust in his sovereign will. When he answers and we understand his plans, we will worship, offering thanksgiving, and praise.
“You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13.
Paul’s raison d’être was to serve the Lord
Jesus Christ. “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth
of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.”
Philippians 3:8. Wherever Jesus sent him, he preached, and the gospel spread
according to God’s perfect plan.
We need to be at
home wherever Jesus places us. In trying times, this may be a tough lesson to accept,
but the Bible promises us he leads us in the paths of righteousness to honor
his name because he is a loving master and we’re his daughters and servants. He
is also our heavenly Father, who cares for his children. If this earthly journey
is uncomfortable, we should remember trials shape us into his likeness. Our earthly
stay is finite. Jesus has promised he’s preparing us for a permanent home. God
paid a significant price to adopt us into his family: Jesus’ suffering and
death. We owe him a debt of love and gratitude, which we express through our worship
and service.
Lydia opened her home to serve Paul, who served
Jesus. She used her talents for God’s glory and the church grew in Philippi.
Her open heart led to a full relationship with Jesus and worship.
Paul endured many trials while he traveled and preached,
but he kept trusting Jesus. As his life drew to a close, he wrote to Timothy
with a clear conscience.
“I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race. I
have kept the faith. Now there is in store for
me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have
longed for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:7-8
What
was true for Lydia and Paul applies to us.
Psalm
100 invokes our love for
the Lord, and I pray it evokes your worship:
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into His presence with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His. We
are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates
with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His
name. For the Lord is good, and His loving devotion endures
forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations.”
Please pray for the marketing of “Castles in His
Heart.” It’s a new journey for me and the way forward is vague. Pray God will open
the right doors and keep me from knocking on the wrong ones!
Blessings, Janet.
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