Let the Lord Choose

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

LET THE LORD CHOOSE

Acts 1:15-26

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus— 17 he was one of our number and shared in this ministry." 18(With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 "For," said Peter, "it is written in the book of Psalms, "'May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,' and, "'May another take his place of leadership.'   21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection." 23 So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25 to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs." 26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

NIV

Even before the Spirit comes upon them, Peter seems to be taking a leading role. Of course, he was the one who when asked by Jesus, when they were in Caesarea Philippi, as to who do you say I am, Peter said that you are the Son of the Living God. Jesus made the statement when he was still called Simon, that his name would be Peter and upon this rock, he would build his church. Peter was also one of the three that Jesus took with him up the mountain when he was transfigured. There is so much more we could recount about Peter that would seem to point us to him being one of the more outspoken and having leadership qualities. We also know that After the Spirit it was Peter who stood up and preached a great salvation message and thousands accepted the Lord that day. Therefore, it would be fitting that Peter was the one who pointed out the scriptures about Judas and the fact they needed to replace him because Jesus had chosen twelve and now there were only eleven. It is interesting this was a very important choice and they did not want to act on their own, so they prayed. It is also interesting they already knew from their spending those years with Jesus that he was the Son of God and he was divine and all-knowing, for their prayer including or that was the extent of their prayer. “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two men who you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs”. That was it, short and sweet and to the point. They did not thank God for the day, or the night, or the Stars in the sky, or for blessing them, or anything to do with anything else other than the need at hand to choose one of two men who were proposed because they too had witnessed all of the time of Jesus’s ministry. These two had been with Jesus from the beginning to the end. They wanted Jesus to choose which one it would be. It is interesting they then cast lots. Not sure exactly if that is like voting, or more like tossing dice. The Roman soldiers cast lots for the robe of Jesus, that was not a vote, but some form of who gets the shorter straw, or throwing sticks on the ground, or maybe even like drawing stones from a hat, so see who gets the white stone, from among all black stones. It is a sort of a game a chance, but they could not depend on themselves to make the choice, so this gave the Lord the control as to whom the lot fell. This should give us the clue that we too should not be making any important decision without conferring with the Lord. Once again, we do not need to pray for everything and anything else other than for the choice that is before us. God is not impressed with our fancy or the number of words we can say in prayer. In fact, Jesus talked about the Pharisees who stood on the streets so as to be seen and heard by men. Jesus went on to say that we should not go on babbling like the pagans because they think they are heard because of their many words. We believers may have been caught up in this type of thinking that if we use a lot of words, we are considered a good prayer. We think maybe it would be better to simply pray for the one need at hand and leave it at that, short and sweet. God knows the rest.