Acts 14:11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they went wild, calling out in their Lyconian dialect, “The gods have come down! These men are gods!” (The Message Bible)
What Paul had done was be the vehicle for the healing of a man lame from birth. The folks who saw it concluded that Paul and his companion, Barnabas, must be divine and started spreading the word. The problem for Paul and Barnabas was that they didn’t know what the people were carrying on about because the people were speaking their own language, “Lyconian,” and not the Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic that Paul and Barnabas understood. The next thing they knew the people were preparing to sacrifice an animal to them and that was the last thing they wanted. How do you connect with others who don’t speak the same language? Do we understand the language God speaks? These people figured that God had come to them in Paul and Barnabas speaking a language of the power to heal. It seems reasonable that if God wants us to understand him, he will find a way to speak our language. That’s exactly what he did in Jesus and through the prophets and in the scriptures. Are we ready to listen?
Logan Memorial Presbyterian Church 