Unless your heart is made of granite, the person I’m choosing to write about first will not only break your heart…but rip it out. I pretty much knew when this idea hit me months ago that if I ever got the wherewithal to actually write this series, this little girl would definitely be included. The sixteenth chapter of Acts is loaded to the gills with names and action. It is here in the early days of Paul’s second missionary journey that Paul and Silas meet a young man named Timothy. Timothy’s importance will become immeasurable as time progresses. Shortly after Timothy joins the duo, Paul will receive what we’ve come to know as the “Macedonian Call” where he receives a vision to go and preach the gospel in Macedonia. This, too, is an extremely important moment in the life of the apostle. In the very next section, Paul and Silas would once again meet someone who would play an important role in Paul’s life and ministry. A woman named Lydia from Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who, according to Scripture, was a worshiper of God, invites Paul and Silas to stay in her home. Her kindness and generosity have made her a household name throughout church history. Incidentally, verse 40 tells us that Lydia’s home soon became a meeting place for Christians. Everything that I’ve mentioned so far is given to us in the first fifteen verses of chapter sixteen. Big stuff. Important stuff. Big names. Key places. All of it relevant.

But then we come to verse sixteen of chapter sixteen. Do me a favor…if you’re reading this in a hurry…stop…walk away…and come back to it when you can take your time…when the TV is off…when you’re not playing a game on your cellphone…when you don’t have to be somewhere in 10 minutes. We all love to hear about Timothy, the Macedonian Call, Lydia, etc. But this next person Paul and Silas meet is not only nameless…she is simply described as “a slave girl” in verse sixteen. The verse says she “had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.” Luke, the author of Acts, tells us that she followed Paul and Silas around crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days.” On paper, this almost sounds like some nice things to be saying. Some might even be tempted to toss in an “Amen.” But that is not the case here. This slave girl was possessed by a spirit that knew things about people. My primary study Bible suggests that she had “predictive powers.” In short, she knew secrets about people. Hidden things about people’s lives were visible to her. Her owners used her abilities to make money. Luke tells us Paul became annoyed with her for he apparently knew the spirit she had was not from the Lord. Fortune-telling was clearly forbidden to God’s people in the OT (Deut. 18:10, 1 Sam. 28:8, 2 Kings 17:17, Micah 3:11). Paul did not want anyone to think she was somehow working with himself and Silas. He knew what spirit was at work in her. In verse eighteen, after enduring all he could stand, he confronts her and says, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” Luke then adds the spirit came out of her that very hour.

What follows is perhaps the most heart-breaking part of the story. Once “the slave girl” loses the spirit that was making her owners money, they become enraged at Paul and Silas and had them beaten with rods and put in prison. Verse nineteen says, “But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone…” Did you catch that? The little slave girl was now worthless to her owners. She officially had nothing to offer.

I studied this lady at length years ago. Call me weak if you must…but tears accompanied the study. I remember vividly thinking about all that I didn’t know about this lady. I didn’t know her age. I didn’t know her parents. I didn’t know if she had any brothers or sisters. I didn’t know if she had children of her own. I didn’t know where she lived. All I really knew was that she was a slave girl…owned by some godless people who used her solely for the purpose of exploiting the spirit that controlled her life…so they could make money. And then it hit me…I didn’t even know her name.

What I did know was that she was somebody’s daughter. I told myself that surely there was a time, perhaps earlier in her life, when she mattered to somebody. Surely a mom told her she was pretty or a dad bounced her on his knee…doesn’t every baby deserve at least that? When Paul cast out the spirit that had ruined this young lady’s life, it certainly seemed she had lost her purpose. The Bible clearly states she was “THEIR hope of gain” for her owners…and now that was gone.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what happened to her after that. One thing is for sure-Paul did something good for her. Casting out that spirit was a blessing. Maybe this was her chance at a life that was about more than just making her owners money. Maybe the words she had been saying as she harassed Paul and Silas as she followed them around the city…maybe those words came to mean something real to her. Heaven knows that’s my prayer. I would love to know she is my sister in Christ. How precious would that be? And if she is…I have to believe I might get to know her name one day. That would be something. What we do know is that on the day Paul cast out that evil spirit, she was given a fresh start. My goodness, if anyone deserved one, this little slave girl truly did.

We live in a day where human-trafficking is a real sin. If statistics are to be believed, the magnitude of this horror is insane. For most of us, our brains are not even geared to “go there.” My wife and I went to see Jim Caviezel’s controversial movie, “The Sound of Freedom.” A million thoughts ran through my mind when I watched the movie that night in Somerset. Real stuff. Heavy stuff. Tears were right there. The lump was in my throat…and a weight was on my chest I can’t describe. I left with a prayer list a mile long. Ironically enough, I also left the theater that night thinking about a slave girl whose name I didn’t know. I pray I get that chance to know it…and if I do…I’m absolutely certain it will be beautiful.

Pastor Mark