Lydia

This chapter is based on Acts 16:14, 15, 40.

Lydia was a merchant woman from Thyatira who traded in expensive purple cloth. She also was a worshiper of God and extended her hospitality to the disciples.DG 72.5

The time had come for the gospel to be proclaimed beyond the confines of Asia Minor.... The call was imperative, admitting of no delay.... [said Luke,] “We came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony.”DG 73.1

“On the Sabbath,” Luke continues, “we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. 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.” Lydia received the truth gladly. She and her household were converted and baptized, and she entreated the apostles to make her house their home.—The Acts of the Apostles, 211, 212 (1911).DG 73.2

God's Spirit can only enlighten the understanding of those who are willing to be enlightened. We read that God opened the ears of Lydia, so that she attended to the message spoken by Paul. To declare the whole counsel of God and all that was essential for Lydia to receive—this was the part Paul was to act in her conversion; and then the God of all grace exercised His power, leading the soul in the right way. God and the human agent cooperated, and the work was wholly successful.—The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 6:1062 (1900).DG 73.3

Acting upon the instruction given by Christ, the apostles would not urge their presence where it was not desired. “They went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.”—The Acts of the Apostles, 218 (1911).DG 73.4