Rita has this cute sweat shirt that says, "Let the Lord lead the Way." This advice is very important to the Christian in today's society just as it has been in the past. Consider the time when Jonah decided to follow his own way and not the Lord's leading. he ended up with being three days in the belly of a fish. Following the leading of the Lord does not always make sense, but who believed that almost every home would have a least one computer in 1949. This past week I saw a email signature with the following quote.

Nobody would have ever believed that computers would be able to be carried around in your hand and weigh only a few pounds. In 1949 that would have been impossible. A lot of what the Lord leads us in is impossible to us today, but we must remember that the Lord is above all and time has no meaning to him. When the Lord directs us to do the impossible, he is only showing us something that is currently impossible to our level of technology.

For instance when the Lord directed Philip to go into the desert toward Gaza did not make any sense in the logical sense. When the Lord is leading many things do not make sense, but work out fine in the end.

Acts 8:26-40

26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

The amazing thing is the transporting of Philip to Azotus from Gaza. This transporting about 18 miles does not seem like a long distance today, but when was the last time you walked just 5 miles? Driving at 60 miles per hour will get you 18 miles in 18 minutes. But in the Philip's day, even the concept of travel at anything faster than horse was impossible. But Philip all of the sudden found himself 18 miles from where he started. Today we wouldn't question how it was able to happen, but 2000 years ago Philip's transport was impossible. What man calls impossible is perfectly normal and possible with God.

God works at a level of intelligence that is far superior to ours. Things that we just dream about or have not even imagined yet, God has already accomplished. In heaven there is no time, and with a thought you can be at any time and place. I have a hard time even contemplating this, but in the Lord's realm all things are possible. So when the Lord directs to do something that does not make sense to us, maybe we should consider just how powerful and great the Lord really is. His ways are far above our ways. His methods are far superior to ours. If we choose to follow the Lord we need to drop our own understanding for it is very limited.

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Copyright © 2002 LeRoy D. Cressy
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