Tag Archives: Matthew Henry

Unusual Kindess…in Malta

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We are still on the island of Malta so I thought it fitting that we look a little more closely at the Apostle Paul’s time here. We have talked about his shipwreck and how he came to arrive on the island of Melita, as it was called in the New Testament. You can read that first post here and the second here! Today, let us look at the “barbarians” who received them.
When I would read this passage years and years ago, I took it to mean that they were uncivilized savages! I pictured cannibals, native bush-people like we would have seen on National Geographic back-in-the-day. Yes, I know, I had a vivid imagination and not too much Biblical training. Bear with me.
Reading it in several different versions and digging deeper I see something entirely different. Let’s read:

“After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.” Acts 28:1, 2 ESV.

The King James Version calls the native people barbarians. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, explains: “They are called barbarous people, because they did not, in language and customs, conform either to the Greeks or Romans, who looked (superciliously enough) upon all but themselves as barbarians, though otherwise civilized enough, and perhaps in some cases more civil than they. These barbarous people, however they were called so, were full of humanity: They showed us no little kindness.”
They didn’t carry voodoo dolls, didn’t eat people and were not crazy and inhuman. As Matthew Henry says, they were probably more civil than the cold, wet prisoners and crew who had washed up on their shore! They were full of humanity. The KJV says, “They showed us no little kindness.”  In other words, they didn’t hold back, they gave of all they had to show mercy to complete strangers. And remember, most of them were criminals!
They had weathered the storm, Paul had convinced them they would ALL survive if they stayed in the ship. He had promised, “…for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” Acts 27:34. Paul and his cohorts needed safety, a place to rest, a place to dry out and a place to get warm.
And he was right. Everyone of them made it safely to shore by following the man of God who had heard the voice of God. They received all of these things at the hands of the Maltese people and much, much more. In return for their kindness and selflessness they received healing by the hand of Almighty God through Paul and salvation for their souls!
I am trying my best to listen with intent spiritual ears while here in Malta. This island and those surrounding it are being inundated with refugees from neighboring countries. They are making very risky, life-threatening trips to escape the danger of ISIS in the place that they call home. As you may have seen on the news, many hundreds have perished so far in the Mediterranean waters. We have seen lines of the migrants waiting to get aid and whatever paperwork they need to either stay here or move on to more permanent dwelling places.

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But in our prayer group last night, I heard the Maltese people request prayer for the refugees. Their hearts were broken for those that they did not know, those who were born in other parts of the world. Souls that they have never met, and probably will never have opportunity to meet, but they realized the hurt, the frustration, the separation and tremendous sacrifice they were making to hopefully find a peaceable place to call home.
This is a very, very crowded island. It is approximately 17 miles in length and 8 1/2 miles wide, 196 square miles. It’s less than half the size of Monroe County, Indiana (I give that example because I can relate to that!) but the population is almost 500,000! It isn’t as if they have tons of countryside to house thousands and thousands that need refuge. Yet, they wouldn’t turn them away. These barbarians, these island natives, are still showing mercy today.

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Unusual kindness.

Hospitality: “The quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.” In the New Testament, the Greek word translated hospitality literally means love of strangers. This word for unusual kindness is even commanded throughout the Word of God. In the Old Testament specifically, “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:33-34, emphasis added).
Jesus and His disciples depended on the kindness of strangers in their travels and we are encouraged to be hospitable in several areas of scripture throughout the New Testament. (Titus 1:8, 1 Timothy 3:2, Hebrews 13:2, Ephesians 2:10.)

Are we prepared to show kindness, extend MERCY to strangers? Would we go out of our way for a complete stranger in need? Could we stop and pause today and realize that it could be you or me that is desperate for even a morsel of bread, a drink of clean water or a change of clothes? Yes, friends, it could be us.

I pray I will be willing to show Unusual Kindness to another. To bless others as I have been blessed and not to be stingy with what God has given me. I might just meet another Apostle Paul along the way…
Enjoy some pictures from Malta and the nearby island of Gozo which we visited this week. The Lord thought this small island paradise important enough to send the most famous preacher in Christianity here to bless this people. Let us learn from their Unusual Kindness today!

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Crazy Coincidence or Divine Appointment?

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“There is a God who governs the world, so that things do not come to pass by chance, no, not the smallest event, but all by Divine direction.” ~ Matthew Henry

 

Crazy Coincidence or Divine Appointment?

There was a lady who experienced quite the coincidence in the Bible. You may or may not know her as the Shunammite woman whose son was raised from the dead by the prophet Elisha in the book of 2 Kings, chapter 4.

Elisha had told the woman that there would be a famine in the land and she should go and stay wherever she could because the famine would last for seven years. She obeyed, took her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

At the end of the seven years she makes her way back to Israel to make an appeal to the king to get her house and her land returned to her. Now this is no small feat for anyone, especially for a woman! To go before the king and demand your property be returned to you after seven years of being gone had to be a little scary, and from the commentaries I have read he might not have been particularly easy to work with.

In the meantime, the king is talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God; they are just sitting around discussing all of the great things Elisha has done. There they are going down through the list of all the miracles he had performed and when Gehazi gets to the story of Elisha bringing the Shunammite woman’s son back to life she walks in at that very moment to ask the king to restore her house and land! Gehazi is beside himself and reacts like this:

“My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 2 Kings 8:5 NKJV.

It isn’t like they are the only ones in the room…surely there are many people in line to see the king just as this woman. But Gehazi sees her just as he is telling about her son’s miracle.

The king listens to her story, assigns an official to her case and tells him to “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.” 2 Kings 8:6 NIV.

Crazy Coincidence? I prefer to call it Divine Appointment!

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God had taken care of her this far; He sure was not going to abandon her now!

This was no coincidence my friend, this was all divinely orchestrated by God.

Coincidence- A sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged.

Can you handle one more story?

We all love Ruth and Naomi and their dedication to one another in the Old Testament. After the death of both of their husbands they move back to their homeland and in order to provide food for the two of them, Ruth is out in the field gathering grain that is left over from the harvesters.

“Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.” Ruth 2:3 NKJV.

She just happened to come to the field that belonged to Boaz…a man of influence and wealth who would soon fall in love with her and take her for his wife.

But it doesn’t end there. This little coincidence truly is a Divine Appointment, for we find Boaz and Ruth listed in the New Testament in a pretty important place.

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham…Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.” Matthew 1:1-5 NKJV.

Surely you can think of times in your life when circumstances have come together that you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it had to be God! Some would have called it coincidence but you knew better.

God had His hand all over it!

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.” Psalm 37:23 NKJV.

We miss out on giving God the glory in when we pass something off as chance, happenstance or coincidence.

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What specific instances can you recall that God has done in your life that you knew was not a coincidence?

Have you found yourself in the right place at the right time and just knew it was the hand of God?

Nothing happens by chance!

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I like to think that my God delights in getting out His datebook and setting up Divine Appointments for me!

Do you have a Divine Appointment you would like to share? We would love to hear it!

 

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But Prayer…

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I have unashamedly borrowed my title from my pastor’s message Sunday night. When a thought is that good it needs to be shared. I did not take notes, I just loved the title and the scripture lesson and I knew I wanted to write about it. I hope I can do it justice.

In the Book of Acts, the 12th chapter, Herod the King is a little upset. The Church is flourishing, that is not on his agenda, so he has James, the brother of John, killed. And when he sees that makes him a pretty big guy with the Jews he then has Peter put into prison.

So I love this part, Herod is so afraid of the Church, or of Peter, or of SOMEBODY, that he has “four squads of four soldiers each” guarding Peter. It takes 16 soldiers to keep hold of one measly fisherman who is “fastened with two chains between two soldiers” and even “others stood guard at the prison gate”. Acts 12:6.

But while Peter was in prison, asleep, the Church was praying, the Bible said they were praying “very earnestly”.  Suddenly a light shines in the prison and an angel of the Lord comes to Peter, strikes him on the side, raises him up and says, “Quick! Get up!”  The chains fell off his wrists and the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals and your coat and follow me.”

Peter leaves the prison, following the angel but all the time he thinks he is having a vision! He didn’t realize it was actually happening. They pass the first and second guard posts and nobody stops them! The Bible doesn’t say why, it doesn’t say if they were seen or not but just says they passed by but the posts were surely guarded. Then they come to the Iron Gate leading to the city and this opened for them ALL BY ITSELF.

Once they walked through the Iron Gate, the angel suddenly leaves Peter and he finally realizes it is all real. “The Lord has sent his angel and save me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!” Acts 12:11. Peter probably thought he was to meet the same fate as that of James! He wasn’t expecting to be delivered and now it has really hit him that a real rescue has taken place.

So Peter goes to the source of the miracle, he heads to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where the prayer meeting was taking place. He knocks and Rhoda comes to open the door. She is so excited when she hears Peter’s voice that instead of opening the door she runs back inside to tell everyone he is there.

But they aren’t convinced. “You’re out of your mind!” they said. But when she keeps insisting, they decide it must be his angel.

Maybe they were praying for him to be bold and strong in the face of adversity or even death. It isn’t that they didn’t have faith to believe for a miracle, but they had just seen James killed for his beliefs and were probably sure Peter was next.

So, poor Peter? He is still out there knocking! Rhoda finally opens the door and they realize that their prayers have not just kept him strong in the face of adversity or ready to face martyrdom, but their prayers produced a miracle!

But Prayer!

Prayer made the difference! They came together, they travailed, they interceded, there was unity, there was power because they prayed!

Are we like that group that gathered for that prayer meeting so long ago? Are we desperate for our prayers to be answered?

What about those that are “chained” among us? Those with addictions, mental illnesses, “issues” that others don’t want to mess with?

Will we “go to bat” for them? Will we care enough to lose sleep over them, even lose a meal or two?

Do we see the power of united prayer? Of the meaning of “…where two or three are gathered in my name there I will be in the midst of them…”? Matthew 18:20.

Will our prayers mean enough that a light from Heaven will shine down and break those chains where they can stand up and not only be free but run past all of those addictions that have them bound?

Matthew Henry says “We that live in a cold, prayerless generation can hardly form an idea of the earnestness of these holy men of old. But if the Lord should bring on the church an awful persecution like this of Herod, the faithful in Christ would learn what soul-felt prayer is.”

But Prayer