When We Get What We Asked For

Acts 12:1-19

¹About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.

²He killed James the brother of John with the sword,

³and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.

⁴And 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.

⁵So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

⁶Now 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.

⁷And 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.

⁸And 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.”

⁹And 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.

¹⁰When 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.

¹¹When 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.”

¹²When 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.

¹³And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate.

¹⁵They 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!”

¹⁶But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.

¹⁷But 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.” Then he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.

¹⁹And 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.

Two years ago my beautiful granddaughter, Anabel, was born. As excited grandmother I traveled across the country to be with my daughter for the birth. My mom did that for me and I was grateful. I wanted to pass that blessing on to my own daughter. Now babies come when they want to and you can plan all you want but babies still come when they want to. I had a 3 week window in which to serve my daughter and her husband. It was my will that the baby be born as soon after my arrival as possible. I rarely pray for God to do things my way. I haven’t had much success with that in the past so I try to avoid it now. But this time, I had a plan and felt compelled to share it with God. And talk about an answer to prayer. Bethany went into labor the day after I arrived! My prayer was answered just as I had hoped and I had the temerity to be shocked! But after the shock wore off, I was jubilant.

Peter’s story for today is one of answered prayer. His situation was dire. He was going to be executed the very next morning. Herod was happy to do it. God miraculously frees Peter from his captors and draws him to safety. You have to be amazed by the entire miracle. Peter is spirited away from his chains – which were attached to guards. Yet they were completely dumbfounded by his escape. The confusion of the prison guards is easy to understand. But the confusion of the Christian community when they received exactly what they had been praying for is a little disappointing. Peter has been freed just as they had begged of God and they didn’t believe it had happened. This story quickly begs the question of how often we pray without really believing that God will pull through for us.

Trusting that God can and will do the best thing at all times can be difficult. But trust is exactly what it boils down to for most of us. What we have to bear in mind is that if Peter had been executed that too would have been God’s plan. If Anabel had been born 3 days before I had to leave to go home, that too would have been God’s plan. Trusting that God’s plan is always the best thing is what faith is all about.