The eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:39)
I have moved many times in my adult life, and every time I’ve mourned the loss of the familiar. I’ll never again live in the apartment where I brought home my first two newborns from the hospital, and there is a flutter of sadness when I think of things I’ve left behind.
After the eunuch rose from the water, Philip was taken away, and they both had to carry on. He would not see Philip again this side of heaven, and Philip would never know how everything turned out for his new brother. Did Philip disappear so suddenly when they rose up together from the pool that the Ethiopian, wiping the water from his eyes, turned to look at the other man and discovered an empty space where he had just been? All we know is that Philip’s leaving was “sudden” and that the lives of both men had been changed forever by their meeting. However, they did not live in their glory days; they moved forward. The eunuch continued on his way and Philip simply appeared to preach somewhere else.
What a lesson for me this is! Although undoubtedly neither man ever forgot the short time they spent together and the actions that changed them forever, they gladly and willingly accepted when it was time to go. Looking forward with rejoicing, they carried the gospel onward.
Look forward to what God has ahead of you.
Amy Elliot lives with her family in Ontario, Canada. Her husband is ordained in The Wesleyan Church.
© 2022 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
