In Acts 8:26-40 we are made aware of Philip and the unusual instructions he received from the Lord. Verse 26 says, “Get up and go…go to the desert.” Well, I don’t know about you, but if I were Philip, I’d have some questions. First of all, “why”?! Secondly, “what”?! As in, what do you want me to do when I get there? I mean, the desert is known for a few things…sand, heat, and a lack of people. What could this be about? Maybe opening a sandwich shop? A Suntanning salon? (Don’t worry here about my tone, God and I have an arrangement where I can be sarcastic sometimes. He patiently let’s me get it out of my system then we proceed.) But surely not Lord…the desert?!

Admirably, Philip just does it without a clue why, or even what he’ll be asked to do when he gets there. It got me thinking about the nature of hearing God, faith to move on what we hear, and divine appointments. Because you see, that’s exactly what was happening here…God was orchestrating something bigger than Philip had any awareness of personally, he just knew he had to do his part…”get up and go…go to the desert.” Okay Lord! And so he went.

Sometimes, (often times) God will ask us to go be somewhere or to do something that we don’t understand. This is but one of the things that makes Him God and not us. He sees it all, every single piece from beginning to end, and we can only see and know what we know in the present. It is our faith steps of obedience along the way that has the potential to reveal God’s ultimate purposes. And that’s mind-blowing that we get to be a part of what God is doing!

The question is, will we allow God to put us in unique, dangerous, and undesirable places to be his answer to prayer for someone else? That’s what Philip was. That’s what his obedience produced. He couldn’t have know it at the time, but God was setting up a divine appointment for an Ethiopian Eunuch, (ouch!) to hear the gospel explained through Philip. It was his obedience to go without understanding why that lead to a lost soul being added to the Kingdom. This is amazing. This is often God’s way. This was a divine appointment.

Now…will we be willing to step out in faith when God says go? He’s speaking, will we listen and obey?