FINDING THE TIME TO READ SCRIPTURE
(Thursday, May 4)
In today’s reading from the Book of Acts, we read about a very powerful and busy man, the Ethiopian eunuch, who is the finance minister of the Queen of Ethiopia, but who finds the time to “come to Jerusalem to worship,” and to read the Prophet Isaiah while sitting in his chariot on his way back, on the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza. (Acts 8:27) Note that manuscripts were expensive, so the eunuch must have invested a lot of money into his own scroll of Isaiah. Note also how difficult it must have been to read anything while traveling in a chariot, which probably rocked to and fro the whole time, under the hot sun on the dusty desert road. The Apostle Philip overtakes his chariot, “hears” the eunuch reading from Isaiah 53, (because people read aloud back then), and strikes up a conversation with the eunuch about his reading. But you probably know the story, my readers. If you don’t, – spoiler alert, – the eunuch ends up believing in Christ, about Whom Philipp tells him, and gets baptized in a water source that they find along the way, traditionally thought to be the Dhirweh fountain near Halhul.
What I take away from this story today, as I read it not in a dusty chariot on a desert road, but in the comfort of my little apartment, is quite obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: Good things happen, good people happen, in my life, when I find the time to read Scripture, even when, or perhaps especially when my schedule is extra-busy and I am traveling. When I seek the Kingdom of Heaven before all things, when I prioritize my seeking of God’s wisdom, prioritizing it above my “more practical” concerns and pressures, He sends me wisdom and He sends me good people, from whom I can learn more. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Mt 6:33)
