Early in Paul’s second missionary journey, he had a vision: “A certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’” (Acts 16:9). Clearly, God wanted Paul to bring the gospel message into lands across the Aegean. Paul and Silas immediately went. Soon, they made the first convert.
On the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she had her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay” (Acts 16:13-15).
If I were Paul, I would be looking to preach first to a Macedonian man. But it turns out that God led him to preach to an Asian woman! Eventually, Paul would speak to soldiers and government officials and pagans in Philippi and beyond. But Paul’s first audience was this little prayer meeting.
God provides opportunities, we just need to get better at recognizing them. Keep your eyes open and your Bible handy! Take out your earbuds, and listen to people around you! We don’t need to book a concert hall to preach the gospel; we can start with the grocery store clerk or the mail carrier or our neighbor.
Second, I learn from Lydia that diligent faith is rewarded. Few “lucky discoveries” are truly lucky; usually they are the result of searching minds. God’s grace is often found by those looking for it. Lydia was “a worshiper of God,” a term for a Jewish proselyte or a Gentile who attends synagogue (Acts 10:2, 13:43, 17:4).
Lydia was a traveling businesswoman. It’s not hard to imagine impediments to her worship. Time is money, and surely the markets were open. Also, it was probably disheartening that there was no real synagogue in town. Why bother at all? What great faith Lydia showed in unfavorable circumstances, to take the time to pause and observe the Sabbath, and join herself with whatever little group was meeting to pray and read. Those who make time for worship often find they receive a greater blessing than they expected! Because she came, she heard the gospel.
Third, God “opened her heart” to respond to the gospel. Now, Calvinism misunderstands the role of man in God’s plan of salvation. Being saved is not a passive process. When the word, “the power of God for salvation,” enters a person’s mind, he doesn’t wait to see what God will do next; instead, he leaps at the opportunity to be saved!
But we go too far if we believe that God is absent from this process. The word prosecho may be translated “give heed” (KJV) rather than “respond.” Vine’s Dictionary (Give, #16; Attend, #1) says, “to turn one’s mind to, attend to” (cf. “pay attention” in Acts 8:6, 1 Tim. 1:4, 4:1, 4:13, Titus 1:14, Heb. 2:1). The idea may be that God is opening her heart to listen, which is less forceful an idea than compelling her to be saved. The Bible does not teach that God overrides the human conscience.
Still, recognize God’s work in opening hearts. May God “open doors” for the gospel (Colossians 4:3). May God grant wisdom (James 1:5). May God touch the hearts of people with whom we are studying (Romans 10:1). When someone is closed-minded to the gospel, may God send circumstances that will cause him to focus on spiritual things.
Finally, I see that Lydia immediately put her new-found faith in Jesus to work. She brought the evangelists to speak to her “household.” She opened her home to the evangelists to use it as a base of operations. Apparently, her home soon became the meeting place for the church, for it is there that Paul and Silas “saw the brethren … encouraged them and departed” (Acts 16:40). Years later, when Paul writes his letter to the Philippian church, it’s addressed to a very active and faithful congregation. Surely, Lydia’s work had a big role in the success of the gospel in Philippi.
—John Guzzetta