GetWisdom PaperturnSampler FINAL SinglePages - Flipbook - Page 94
30
.
LIVING FOR WHAT REALLY MATTERS
beautiful home, but that makes her invitation no less meaningful.
She knew the importance of creating a space for all to gather. No
matter what your environment, your home is enough to act as a welcome and safe place for others—and you can open your door too.
As they enjoyed Lydia’s warm hospitality, Paul and his three companions frequented the riverside to pray, worship, and teach the gospel. Here they faced a challenge: Day after day, a demon-possessed
slave girl followed them around, shouting, “These men are slaves like
me, but slaves of the Most High God! They will proclaim to you the
way of liberation!” (Acts 16:17, voice).
Finally, after many days, the annoyance of her disturbance got the
best of Paul, and he cast out the spirit of divination (pythn; πθων)
that lived within her.
History Lesson
The spirit within this slave girl was python, a term referring to
the mythical snake said to guard the oracle at Delphi. Ancient
Greeks believed Delphi to be the center of the world and the
term python had come to be used of the persons through whom
the python guard supposedly spoke and predicted the future.12
After Paul cast out the demon, her owners were livid because their
fortune-teller would no longer make them money. They seized Paul
and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the chief
leaders of the city.
4. Reread Acts 16:22-24. What happened to Paul and Silas as a
result of this situation?
92