Acts 12:1-19
English
Standard Version (ESV)
12 About that time
Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He
killed James the brother of John with the sword, 3 and when he
saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was
during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 And when he had seized
him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to
guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. 5 So
Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the
church.
6 Now when Herod was about to bring him
out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with
two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And
behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell.
He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the
chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Dress
yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap
your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and
followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real,
but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they had passed the
first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city.
It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one
street, and immediately the angel left him. 11 When Peter came
to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and
rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were
expecting.”
12 When he realized this, he went to the
house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were
gathered together and were praying. 13 And when he knocked at
the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Recognizing
Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported
that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They said to her, “You
are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept
saying, “It is his angel!” 16 But Peter continued knocking, and
when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning
to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had
brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to
the brothers.”[a] Then he departed and went to another place.
18 Now when day came, there was no little
disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. 19 And
after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and
ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to
Caesarea and spent time there.
This story
pretty much explains itself! If we pray,
we should expect an answer but often times we are surprised when the answer
comes as we had hoped. Why is this? Why do we pray one thing and expect a
completely different thing to happen.
Jesus tells us that if we have the faith of a mustard seed that we can
move a mountain, yet these people who were gathered to pray did not even believe
that God had answered their prayer the way they wanted Him to. So, possibly if we have any faith at all, God
will hear our prayers and will answer them.
From the indication of what happened to John’s brother, James, not always
does the answer come in the way that we would like for it to come. The very indication that the people were
still gathering together and praying causes us to believe that they were men of
faith who put their trust in God, although they might not always believe the miracles
they were praying for would actually happen.
I feel that way
some days. I want to believe that God
will answer my prayers that I have prayed continually for but think that He won’t
answer them the way that I want. Yet, if
it is truly His will, the answer will be as I have prayed. I need to be in more direct contact with Him
in order to be one with Him through Christ Jesus our Lord. Then, it may so be that I too will stand
amazed and at awe of His mighty works.
We should not
treat prayer as a wishing game or to think of God as a magical wonder
maker. Rather we need to see God as the
Creator of the Universe, the Creator of us, our Father, and we should bow down
and praise Him. We should seek Him. As we seek Him, know that He is real, trust
Him, obey Him, and let Him guide us through this journey called life. Have faith.
Seeking Him with
all my heart,
Sheila
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