Acts 8 (9-27-10)

Acts 8:26-35 - "But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, "Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a desert road.) So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “He was led as a sheep to slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He does not open His mouth. In humiliation His judgment was taken away; Who will relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth.”

The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?" Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him."

The first thing I noticed about this passage is Philips unquestioning obedience. An angel of the Lord told him to get up and go (v.26) So he got up and went(v.27). The road that he was told to travel from Jerusalem to Gaza was about fifty miles long, and we're told in verse 26 it was a desert road. It doesn't say that he gathered his supplies for the trip, he didn't even take a beast with him so anything he did take he had to carry himself, but he didn't ask why. He didn't inform God of how long and rough the road was, as I so often have the tendency to do. He didn't ask God where he was supposed to go once he got to Gaza (he actually never even made it to Gaza). He simply got up and went.
And once he got up and went God showed him the next step. (v.29) Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." (v.30) Philip ran up. Again he obeyed without question. And he obeyed with eagerness. I don't know how long he had been traveling before he met this man, but any amount of travel is tiring, let alone through the hot, dry desert, but despite that "he ran up." And God was able to use him to bring this eunuch the gospel.
Not only did Philip come to where he was on the road, but he also met him where he was at spiritually. He began with the passage that he was struggling with, and from there he began to preach Jesus to him.
Something else I found interesting in this chapter is the reason Philip went out of Jerusalem in the first place. In verses 1 and 4 we're told - "And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria... Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word." Because of the persecution of the church the gospel was spread.