And 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. A 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. Acts 16:13-14
Ordinarily Paul and his companions would go to the synagogue on the sabbath in a new city. But they were now in Philippi, a Roman colony originally founded and named after Philip II of Macedonia. It was near a lucrative gold mine and thus its lure to would be conquerors. The city lacked the ten Jewish males to establish a synagogue, so they retreated to the riverside where worshippers were gathered for prayer, a group of women. “When in Rome… .”
There Paul struck up a conversation with a seller of purple fabrics who was well to do. Her name was Lydia and she heralded from Thyatira, a city in Asia. More importantly, she was a worshipper of God. Certainly, Paul didn’t hesitate to share the good news with her, and “the Lord opened her heart” (Acts 16:14) and she believed and was baptized, along with her whole household (likely her servants).
She then prevailed upon them (a term implying force) to stay in her home. In the common vernacular, she would not take no for an answer. Ironically, this same insistence on God’s part brought her into his kingdom.
Also interesting is that while the missionaries were prohibited from entering Asia on their trip, their first convert was from an Asian city. Paul and his men set up shop there for many days (verses 12, 18) and established what we’d likely call today “Riverside Church.”
So strategic is God.
Leave a Reply