Resilience — Flexibility - Wednesday
TODAY’S VERSE
Acts 8:26
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place. (ESV)
Years ago I was driving cross-country using an older GPS. About four hours in, it rerouted me off the interstate onto a gravel back road with no explanation. There was no traffic ahead that I could see, no accident reported. Just “Turn here.” I remember sitting at that turn thinking it made no sense, weighing whether I trusted the device more than my own read of the situation. I decided to turn, and later learned I’d avoided a multi-car pileup a few miles up the highway.
Philip's redirection in Acts 8 is much more puzzling than a rerouted GPS. He’s in the middle of a thriving ministry in Samaria when an angel of the Lord tells Philip to leave and go straight to a desert road. There were no crowds waiting in the desert, and the angel didn’t give a reason.
But look at how Luke describes Philip's response: "And he rose and went." No debate. No request for more detail. No insistence that his current assignment was too important to abandon. Philip just went.
That is resilient flexibility. We tend to measure God's direction by visible fruit. If something is "working," we assume we're meant to stay put. But flexibility means trusting God's redirection even when it looks like a step backward on paper. Philip had no way of knowing an Ethiopian official was riding down that empty desert road, already primed by the Spirit to hear good news. He simply knew what he'd been told, and he went.
Where might God be asking you to be flexible right now? Is there a change you've resisted because your current path still feels productive? Is there a closed door you've kept trying to pry back open?
APPLICATION
Identify one place you've resisted redirection because the current path felt safer or more successful. Spend time this week simply asking God what obedience looks like, then take a step in that direction.
PRAYER
Lord, give me Philip's willingness to go where You send me, even when it doesn't make sense. Help me trust that Your direction is never wasted, even when I can't yet see the reason.