Acts 12
As king Herod reveled in his anger towards the disciples of Jesus, he decided that their life choices were punishable by death. King Herod first killed James, the brother of John and had evil plans for Peter as well. After putting Peter in prison with plans of executing him, there was a very dramatic change of events.
Lets first look at the amount of guarding that Herod insisted, to keep Peter from escaping:
- Four squads of soldiers were directed to rotate shifts throughout the night and keep watch over Peter.
- Peter was sleeping with one guard on his left side and one guard on his right side.
- He was bound with not one, but two chains.
- There were multiple guards just outside of the door keeping watch as well.
But because prayer was being made for him, the angel of the Lord came to Peter during the night and woke him from his sleep. Peter, standing to his feet, witnessed the chains fall from his hands towards the ground. The angel instructed Peter to prepare himself for the escape that was about to happen. Let's look closely at a couple of things Peter was not prepared for:
- Peter had taken off his sandals and coat which suggest that he had plans on being there throughout the night. Accepting the fact that he was bound and surrounded deep within the prison, Peter wanted to at least be comfortable while he slept.
We too, often find ourselves bound in chains of bondage, enslaved to our fleshly desires, and imprisoned by our own sins. The father of all lies can convince us that we are to far gone and have become unreachable. However, we do not need to take our shoes and coat off here... We must not become comfortable with out current circumstances. We must put our faith in God and know that he is making provisions and a means of escape for us. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Peter should have known better, having put the Kingdom of God before everything else, that God would have brought him out. I would have much rather read an account of Peter who had such faith in God as to keep his shoes and coat on, stay awake, and prayerfully await the Lord to come.
In the same sense, those who were praying together in Mary's house should have anxiously been awaiting the knock on the door, believing that God would free Peter and send him there. Rather, their disbelief shows us that while they were a praying people, they did not fully expect the results they should have. I believe this is a great lesson of growing our faith to the point where we pray and watch, believing that what we ask, shall be given.
When God answers our prayers, we should not be shocked or astonished as those in Mary's house were. We should be grateful!
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