A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers     

Acts 16:14, “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.”  American writer, philosopher, theologian, and college professor Rufus M. Jones lost his son, Lowell, of eleven years who was the entire world to him. He wrote many years later about the experience, concluding with this luminous parable of how his own heart was opened to God’s love:  “When my sorrow was at its most acute, I was walking along a great city highway, when suddenly I saw a little child come out of a great gate, which swung to and fastened behind her.  She wanted to go to her home behind the gate, but it would not open.  She pounded in vain with her little fist.  She rattled the gate.  Then she wailed as though her heart would break. The cry brought the mother.  She caught the child in her arms and kissed away the tears.  ‘Didn’t you know I would come? It’s all right now.’ All of a sudden, I saw with my spirit that there was love behind my shut gate.”  Life has a way of using tragedies and various other challenges that we encounter to close the gate of hope.  Like the child, we feel abandoned—even lost to the notion that we will ever find our way back to a place of security.  But we are never without hope.  Behind every closed gate there is One who loves us supremely and unconditionally.  In our Scripture lesson today, Apostle Paul testifies of a woman called Lydia “whose heart the Lord [had] opened.”  It was God’s love that opened her heart; that unlocked the shut gate.  Whether it is divorce, loss of employment, the death of loved ones, sickness, or financial struggles, all have a way of closing the gate of hope on us.  But it is the abounding love of God that can transcend any barrier, and once again open to us the gate of hope, leading us back home, and into the promise and security of a new day.