Day 179
1 Kings 20:1-21:29, Acts 18:9-19:13, Psalms 78:32-39
A couple of things jump out from the Acts reading in relation to God’s word and relating to women.
We saw how God spoke to the prophets a few days ago which opened up questions about the different ways that God can speak and here we seem to see a clear voice offered to Paul, telling him not to be afraid and to stick around where he is. This could have been one of the many ways that God communicates, through an audible voice out of thin air, through a vision or a dream, or indeed through other people. The important thing is that God speaks and He is not silent. We even heard that he speaks in whispers, but he still speaks, what we can be sure of is that God will speak in the way that is most appropriate for the person listening.
The other thing that Acts spells out today is the role that women take in the New Testament church. People often pick up on the fact that Paul said that women shouldn’t speak in church and therefore they assume that women shouldn’t be leaders. They skip over the fact that Paul took a couple of women with him on his trip, and he only really takes people with him who are going to spread the Gospel. People also skip over the fact that once Paul had set up a church in Ephesus (quite a big one, he even wrote to them later) he left a couple of women there to look after it, who did a pretty good job of it by all accounts. Acts does a pretty good job of telling us when someone had to be told off by the Apostles and Priscilla and Aquila seemed to be on solid ground. Granted, Paul could put some of the stuff he says about women a little better, but this reading gives us a pretty hefty bit of context with which to read Paul’s letters.
So God speaks, in mighty and powerful ways, through men and women. If He is speaking, are you listening?
A couple of things jump out from the Acts reading in relation to God’s word and relating to women.
We saw how God spoke to the prophets a few days ago which opened up questions about the different ways that God can speak and here we seem to see a clear voice offered to Paul, telling him not to be afraid and to stick around where he is. This could have been one of the many ways that God communicates, through an audible voice out of thin air, through a vision or a dream, or indeed through other people. The important thing is that God speaks and He is not silent. We even heard that he speaks in whispers, but he still speaks, what we can be sure of is that God will speak in the way that is most appropriate for the person listening.
The other thing that Acts spells out today is the role that women take in the New Testament church. People often pick up on the fact that Paul said that women shouldn’t speak in church and therefore they assume that women shouldn’t be leaders. They skip over the fact that Paul took a couple of women with him on his trip, and he only really takes people with him who are going to spread the Gospel. People also skip over the fact that once Paul had set up a church in Ephesus (quite a big one, he even wrote to them later) he left a couple of women there to look after it, who did a pretty good job of it by all accounts. Acts does a pretty good job of telling us when someone had to be told off by the Apostles and Priscilla and Aquila seemed to be on solid ground. Granted, Paul could put some of the stuff he says about women a little better, but this reading gives us a pretty hefty bit of context with which to read Paul’s letters.
So God speaks, in mighty and powerful ways, through men and women. If He is speaking, are you listening?
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