The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
Acts 16 takes place during Paul's travels through the Roman city of Philippi. Paul was one of the earliest and most influential followers of Jesus, traveling widely to share the Christian message. This slave girl was possessed by a spiritual power that gave her the ability to tell fortunes — something her owners exploited for profit. What's striking is that she is shouting something true: Paul and his companions really are servants of God, and they really are sharing the way to salvation. Yet the source is deeply unsettling — a tormented, enslaved girl, controlled by a dark spiritual force, accidentally becoming the town crier for the gospel.
Lord, you have a way of speaking through people and places I would never choose. Keep me humble enough to hear you — even when the messenger isn't who I expected. Teach me never to mistake a broken life for a disqualified one. Amen.
Truth from the wrong address can still be true — and that should unsettle us in the best possible way. There's something almost disorienting about this scene in Philippi. A demon-possessed slave girl runs through the streets shouting correct theology, and she keeps it up for days. Paul — the trained Pharisee, the apostle who wrote half the New Testament — is being publicly announced by someone no respectable religious leader would ever quote. God's truth didn't wait for a proper spokesperson. It spilled out of a broken, exploited woman. Maybe that should challenge our tidy assumptions about where truth comes from and who gets to deliver it. The message was right; the messenger was unexpected. And God let it happen anyway. Think about where you've heard something real about God lately. Maybe it wasn't from a sermon or a devotional. Maybe it came from a skeptic who asked a question you couldn't answer, or a child who said something devastatingly simple, or someone whose life looks nothing like yours. God isn't limited to the sources you'd pre-approve. The harder question is whether you're open enough to hear him through them — even when the messenger is uncomfortable, complicated, or easy to dismiss.
Why do you think the slave girl kept following Paul and shouting the same thing for days — and what do you make of a demonic spirit speaking theologically true words?
Have you ever heard something genuinely true about God from an unlikely or unexpected source? What was it, and how did you respond?
Does it trouble you that a spirit of divination was announcing the gospel? What does that say about the relationship between truth and the source it comes from?
How might this passage challenge the way you treat people whose lives are messy, broken, or socially marginalized — people you might not typically look to for spiritual insight?
Is there someone in your life right now whose perspective on faith you've been too quick to dismiss? What would it look like to actually stop and listen?
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.
Daniel 3:26
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
Genesis 14:18
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
Luke 1:32
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luke 1:79
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
James 2:19
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6
As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
1 Peter 2:16
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
Daniel 3:28
She followed after Paul and us and kept screaming and shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God! They are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!"
AMP
She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”
ESV
Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, 'These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.'
NASB
This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”
NIV
This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”
NKJV
She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”
NLT
She started following Paul around, calling everyone's attention to us by yelling out, "These men are working for the Most High God. They're laying out the road of salvation for you!"
MSG