Hand of God

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THE HAND OF GOD

Acts 12:1-10

12:1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. 6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. 8 Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

NIV

This is one of those sad moments in the life of the apostles, for James had drunk the same cup Jesus did, losing his life because Herod did not like those who belonged to the church. This is another case of people loving and serving Jesus instead of Herod, who must have thought he deserved all the praise from men. Maybe Herod thought that putting an end to the ringleaders would stop the whole movement and cause the church to disband, but he was wrong. The basic truth is that whatever God establishes, creates, or makes, man cannot establish, create, make, or destroy. This is evident in Peter's arrest. Herod's intent would not be fulfilled because God had another plan for Peter's life. He was in a dark cell, without clothes, chained to a wall with two guards on each side, a locked cell door with two more guards at that door. This was looking like a grim situation, with a grimmer outcome. There appeared to be no way to escape this circumstance; however, with God, all things are possible. What we would call an angel of light showed up; however, we heard him say, " He is simply an angel of the Lord, and a bright light was upon him. Peter must have been asleep, as the angel needed to strike Peter on his side to wake him up. We find it interesting that, given the situation Peter was in, he must have felt at peace enough, having faith in Jesus, to fall asleep. His faith was not disappointed: the angel woke him, the chains fell off Peter, he was instructed to get dressed, and they simply walked out of the cell, the prison, and onto the street. Not a single guard was aware of anything that happened. The gate even opened by itself, and that is all the hand of God at work for Peter. What we learn is another basic truth. With man, some things are just not possible, but with God, all things are possible. Why do we try so hard to do so much for ourselves, to put in so much effort to advance ourselves, or to secure our material or monetary future instead of resting in the hand of God? There is nothing or no one greater than our God; therefore, why should we put any of our trust in anything or anyone other than our God? Not only has he saved us from the clutches of darkness and death, given us life in His light, but He has healed us, provided for us, led us, and secured our future life in a place Jesus has prepared for us. It looked like Peter did not let his heart be troubled, and he had good reason. Why then should we let our hearts be troubled? We shouldn't, for we trust in God; we also trust in Jesus, just as he told us. Let us always defer to the hand of God.