Acts 2:22-28
New International
Version (NIV)
22 “Fellow Israelites,
listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by
miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you
yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over
to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of
wicked men,[a] put him to death by
nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from
the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for
death to keep its hold on him. 25 David said about him:
“‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my
right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest
in hope,
27
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your
holy one see decay.
28
You have
made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with
joy in your presence.’
I
love the way Peter confronts these men of Israel. He stated the facts, things that these men
already knew. They saw that Jesus was a “man of God” who performed
miracles. Then, he begins to point out
how, even though they instigated it, God was the One that designed the plan
they carried out. They turned Jesus over
to be crucified but it was all in God’s plan.
He then takes someone who they held in high regard, David, and stated
words that they were most likely familiar with.
Just
think about it for a minute, these men, high esteemed, supposedly men of God, just
abandoned God through the crucifixion of Christ. The words that Peter uses are words of
thanksgiving from David. He is thanking
God for not abandoning him. Talk about a
sermon of stepping on toes, I think this was definitely one of them.
Wait,
stop, let’s think again. How often do we
do the same as these men of Israel? Oh,
maybe we weren’t the ones that put Jesus on the cross but we do abandon
Him. We want Him near to us, never to
leave us, but then once in awhile we get this urge to do it our way. We move a little to the left and God moves
right along with us but we seem to forget that He is there. We have just crucified Him all over again.
Sometimes
when we think it is about the other person, it is really about us. As we seek Him today, I hope that each of us
remember, the words of David and remember that it is never God forsaking us but
it is rather us forsaking God.
Seek
Him and know that He remains with us, forgives us, and sanctifies us through
His blood and resurrection.
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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