Acts 9:36
Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.
At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas. She lived at Joppa near Lydda as a worthy disciple of Jesus, and her good deeds made her greatly beloved. Her life was full of good works and generous almsdeeds, showing charity to the poor, kindness and sympathy to the sorrowful, and zeal for the cause of truth. She freely ministered to the poor and the sorrowful, meeting both material and emotional need.
She embodied patient, prayerful, and persevering fidelity, with skillful fingers more active than her tongue, working quietly in kind deeds rather than talking much. She discerned who needed comfortable clothing and who needed sympathy, and freely met the wants of both. Her practical service was sewing coats and garments for widows and the poor, including making clothing and giving help and sympathy to people in need. That work served the church, and the grief of the widows and the garments they showed Peter revealed how much her service meant.
Her death was felt as a great loss to the young, infant church, which could not readily or well spare her devoted efforts and noble work. When she died the church realized its loss, and believers mourned and lamented with warm tears over her lifeless body as they understood what they had lost. Through Peter's prayer, by the power of God, she was restored to life from death and brought back from the land of the enemy. She was of so great value that she was raised so her skill and energy could still be a blessing to others.
She was raised to continue making garments for the needy and to strengthen the cause of Christ, showing that God honors everyday labor and practical works of charity. The miracle led many in Joppa to believe in Jesus. She is the pattern for a continuing line of practical charitable work, a Dorcas work of doing good and giving help to the needy that lasts as long as time shall last. That work never ends and often shows very little result for the strength and means spent on it, with work still to be done and often very little to show for the strength and money put into it.
Her patient, prayerful, persevering faithfulness is the kind the church, the Sabbath school, and society need in order to prosper. In its wider setting in Acts 9, the verse belongs to a lesson for all on the need for God's converting power in the soul. Without conversion people will be used by Satan as Saul was to hunt and persecute souls, doing the work of the satanic agencies who crucified Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God and repeating Lucifer's self-exalting act, since history is to be repeated.