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Lydia’s Hospitality, November 25
A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, ... heard us.... And when
she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have
judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there.
And she constrained us.
Acts 16:14, 15
.
“On the Sabbath,” Luke [declared], “we went out of the city by a river side,
where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women
which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple,
of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord
opened.” Lydia received the truth gladly. She and her household were converted
and baptized, and she entreated the apostles to make her house their home.—
The
Acts of the Apostles, 212
.
God’s Spirit can only enlighten the understanding of those who are willing to
be enlightened. We read that God opened the ears of Lydia, so that she attended
to the message spoken by Paul. To declare the whole counsel of God and all
that was essential for Lydia to receive—this was the part Paul was to act in her
conversion; and then the God of all grace exercised His power, leading the soul
in the right way. God and the human agent cooperated, and the work was wholly
successful.—
The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 6:1062
.
[The authorities] visited the prison, apologized to the apostles for their injustice
and cruelty, and themselves conducted them out of the prison, and entreated them
to depart out of the city.... The apostles would not urge their presence where it
was not desired. They complied with the request of the magistrates, but did not
hasten their departure.... They went rejoicing from the prison to the house of
Lydia, where they met the new converts to the faith of Christ, and related all the
wonderful dealings of God with them. They related their night’s experience, and
the conversion of the keeper of the prison, and of the prisoners.
The apostles viewed their labors in Philippi as not in vain. They there met
much opposition and persecution; but the intervention of Providence in their
behalf, the conversion of the jailer and all his house, more than atoned for the
disgrace and suffering they had endured. The Philippians saw represented in the
deportment and presence of mind of the apostles the spirit of the religion of Jesus
Christ....
The news of their unjust imprisonment and miraculous deliverance was noised
about through all that region, and brought the apostles and their ministry before
the notice of a large number who would not otherwise have been reached. Chris-
tianity was placed upon a high plane, and the converts to the faith were greatly
strengthened.—
The Spirit of Prophecy 3:385, 386
.
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