November 24, Acts 12
The jail break stories are almost light-hearted reminders of Who’s In Charge. Don’t misunderstand. There’s nothing pleasant about the beatings and executions. The persecution was serious and severe. But when rulers or jailers, Jews or Gentiles, tried to imprison people that God wanted out, no chains or bars could hold them.
James had left his father’s fishing boat years earlier to follow Jesus. He was among the select few who saw and heard things that even other apostles were not privileged to share. For reasons unapparent to us, God allowed him to die under Herod’s hateful sword. Herod was a ruthless bully who killed innocent people for political advantage. But Herod did not overpower God to kill an apostle, or snatch one away while God wasn’t looking. Peter ’s deliverance proves that God was still in control.
Has anxiety ever kept you awake? You may marvel that Peter was asleep the night before his scheduled execution. The angel touched him and spoke to him, as if rousing a sleepy-headed teenager on a school morning. He told him each step to take about getting dressed and out the door. Peter thought he was dreaming or seeing a vision until he was out on the street and realized that the Lord had broken him out of jail again.
Peter’s appearance at Mary’s house also makes me smile. The disciples were praying hard for Peter’s rescue. When he knocked at the door, their prayers answered, they thought Rhoda was crazy when she announced Peter was there! In her excitement, she had not opened the gate to let him in. So Peter stood outside knocking while the prayer group analyzed Rhoda’s mental health and wondered who or what might be out there, since everybody knew Peter was in jail.
It wasn’t funny to Herod or the guards when morning came and Peter was gone. Herod ordered the execution of the incompetent guard detail, and went to his lake house.
Peter wasn’t the only one struck by an angel. Herod, arrayed in his royal finery and giving an oration from his throne, was struck down and died even as the audience proclaimed him to be a god. In a single contrasting sentence, Luke reminded his readers that the real word of the real God continued to increase and multiply. God was in control. No opponent could win; no one on the Lord’s side could lose.
If you suffer for following Jesus, don’t doubt that God is in control. Trust him. If you are imprisoned (literally or figuratively), don’t doubt that God can get you out if he wants you out. Trust him. If you’re praying in faith for what seems impossible, don’t be so surprised when it happens. Trust him. Never confuse your own squeaky little voice (or anyone else’s) with the mighty word of God. Trust him. And believe that one day all injustice will be rectified, and mysteries about why certain things happened as they did will evaporate. Trust him.
From The Abiding Companion: A Friendly Guide for Your Journey Through the New Testament,
Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—November 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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