How Did God Open Lydia’s Heart In Acts 16:14?

How Did God Open Lydia’s Heart in Acts 16:14?  The question can really be restated – Does God Miraculously Force people to convert, or does He use Means/Agency to influence them to convert? Notice:

· God gives us our daily bread (Matt 6:11), but is that done via a manna miracle or thru means (our jobs)?

· I Kings 11:4 says Solomon’s wives “turned away his heart.” Did Solomon’s wives turn his heart that by miraculous force, or was it through influence – still leaving Solomon with a choice?

· II Kings 13:2 says Jeroboam “made Israel to sin.” Did Jeroboam force them to sin, or did he lead them to sin by placing idols in Bethel and Dan – I Kings 12:28ff? Baasha did the same thing – I Kings 16:2.

· II Kings 23:29 says Josiah was slain by the king of Egypt, but II Chron 35:23 says archers killed Josiah. Which was it? The answer is the king killed Josiah through “agents” (his soldiers).

· John 4:1-2 Jesus baptized, but he did it through agents – his disciples.

· John 6:44-45 the Father draws sinners to Jesus, not thru miraculous force, but thru the teaching and learning of His word

· Nehemiah 8:1 God commanded Israel … through an agent (by Moses – verse 14)

· Matt 8:5 the centurion made a request of Jesus, but it was made thru agents, i.e. the elders of the Jews – Luke 7:3

· Acts 26:18 God sent Paul to preach to people to “open their eyes.” But Paul obviously didn’t do that thru miraculous force. Likewise God opens / enlightens hearts/minds/eyes thru the divine persuasion (Acts 28:23, II Cor 5:11) of his word (Psalms 19:8b), not thru miraculous force. The preaching of God’s word pricks/opens hearts Acts 2:37.

· I Cor 4:15 Paul had “begotten” the Corinthians thru the gospel – thru means, right?

The same is true for the opposite: God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exod 7:13, 9:12, 10:1), but Pharaoh hardened his own heart also (Exod 8:32, 8:15, 9:34). So obviously God didn’t harden Pharaoh’s heart thru force, but through circumstances. The choice was still Pharaoh’s. The same is true for us. God hardens hearts and blinds eyes (John 12:40), but also people harden their own hearts (Prov 28:14) and close their own eyes (Matt 13:15). There is no contradiction. It is done thru means, not force.

A young man “opens” a young lady’s heart, but he does it thru actions of love, persuasion, conduct, careful attention, etc., not through force. He doesn’t take away her free will, but nonetheless he does open her heart. Similarly, the gospel opened Lydia’s heart to obey God – not by force, but by inspired persuasion.

And that is how God opens all hearts – not by force but through the means of divine persuasion (I Pet 1:23, Rom 1:16, Rom 10:17, II Cor 5:10-11, John 6:44-45, Eph 6:17b, II Thess 2:14.).  God’s goodness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4); He does not force us.

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