Acts 12:19-25
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find
him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and
stayed there a while. 20 He had been quarreling
with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an
audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a trusted personal
servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s
country for their food supply.
21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his
throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They
shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately,
because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the
Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God continued to increase and
spread.
25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their
mission, they returned
from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.
Today we see Herod struck down by
the Lord. I had to wonder why he waited
until the moment recorded to strike Herod down.
It is obvious in the prior verses that Herod was not a good guy and that
he thought only of himself and what he could gain from the situation and not
about anyone else. He would have had
Peter executed if it had not been for the intervention of the Lord to allow him
to escape. So why did he wait so
long? That is a question that we may
have about others such as Hitler and other cruel rulers both today and in the
past. Why do God’s people have to suffer
at the hands of such cruelty? We won’t
have a complete answer on this earth and by the time we get to heaven I don’t
think we will really care but I believe it has to do with the title of this
blot, “It is Not About Us”.
When people suffer it may allow
them the opportunity to become closer with the Lord. When we suffer we have two choices; we can
become angry with God and turn our backs on Him or we can reach out to Him for
strength through the circumstances.
Peter and his fellow Christians reached out to God and were closer to
Him because of it. Their faith was
strengthened through the trial that King Herod played a role in. God is such a powerful God He can work
through even the cruelest of people to bring us closer to Him.
In King Herod’s situation he
seemed to think that He was god and allowed others to see it that way too. This, for King Herod, was the end of his life
in this world. Partially it was his
attitude but partially it was the attitude of those who worshiped him. If they had an earthly king to worship, they
would not worship God. Because Herod
refused to give the credit back to God and the people called him a god, it was
time for him to exit and real power to be revealed. I would have to think that many of those that
had called Herod, “god” may have late come to know the Lord because of this
incident.
I have heard it said many time, “It
is not about you”, so, who is it about?
It is all about God. Some people
who say “it is not about you” actually think it is more about them but the
scripture today make si it clear that it not about either, it is about God and
God alone. We gather together each
Sunday because it is about God. We have
people in our homes and share the word of God not for our glory but because it
is about God. When we do things in this
world, in our churches, at our job to bring glory to us and allow others to
worship us, then it is time to exit this world for our lives should always
reflect His glory and our worship and praise should always be about Him. We should strive to be all that God has
called us to be but we should always give Him the praise and not take the glory
for ourselves. Worship is all about God
and we have no right to make any of it about us.
As you seek Him today remember to
bow down and worship Him and Him alone.
There is not one person on this earth that deserves praise but only our
God deserves it all.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment