Never Before

“and the Lord opened her heart to respond” Acts 16:14

Opened – What comes to mind when I say, “It was opened”? Most of us probably think of a door or window. The first mental image that we have is the routine one. We open and close things all day long. So we think that we have a pretty good understanding of this verse. God opened the door to her heart just like we open the door to a car. But we would be mistaken. To see what is really involved in this word, we have to go back to the Old Testament; to Exodus 13:2 where this Greek word (dainoigo) is used to describe a special kind of opening.

In Exodus you will find this phrase: “the first offspring of every womb”. God says that the first born is to be sanctified to Him and He calls the first born literally “the first generated that opens the womb”. This is no routine opening. In life, it can occur only one time at the birth of the first child. It is a “never before” opening. That’s the impact of adding dia to the root word anoigo. The emphasis makes this a special event. God didn’t just open her heart. He opened her heart as though it were opened with the first child. He opened it thoroughly as it had never been opened before.

When God opens the heart, something akin to a first birth occurs. The event is as miraculous as the arrival of the first born. It is just as awe-inspiring, just as humbling. Life shows up in the world. When God opens the heart, all our feeble attempts at evangelism dwindle to paltry insignificance. We were never really players in the celestial event at all. We just watched the birth occur. It was always God’s script.

There are many people in our lives who need to have God birth their hearts. They have never been opened. But we do not have the power nor the insight to bring about this miracle. Only God brings life from death. Only God can open what was always closed. Just as God is the author of physical birth, He is also the author of heavenly birth. After all, we are His children.

If you know someone who is closed, what can you do? This verse reminds us that our role in the birth is prayer, not persuasion. It is through prayer that He will thoroughly open. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will open the hearts in the field. Without His generating power, our efforts are in vain.