Act 12:1-11

About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword. When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. (This took place during the Passover celebration. ) Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered. So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was actually happening. They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him. Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!”
Acts 12:1-11

Dear God, I keep going back to the story of King Hezekiah laying the letter from the other king that told him to surrender to the Assyrians out before you and praying about what to do (2 Kings 19). The situation seemed impossible, but in 2 Kings 19:35 accomplished the impossible in a way no one could have ever seen coming. T

The same is true with this story about Peter. As everyone prayed for Peter, including Peter, they probably envisioned Herod’a heart turning and showing mercy or something like that. They never considered you would send an angel for a jail break.

Father, there are several seemingly immovable mountains in front of me right now. I know you can move them, but I simply cannot conceive how you might do it. But I lay it before you, like Hezekiah. Please come, move and work do it all for your glory and your plan.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

2 Kings 19:9-19

⁹ Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia^[c] was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:

¹⁰ “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. ¹¹ You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? ¹² Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all! ¹³ What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”

¹⁴ After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.

¹⁷ “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. ¹⁸ And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. ¹⁹ Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”

2 Kings 19:9-19

Dear God, there is so much we fear. There is so much I fear. The odds seemed stacked against our society in many areas. Against me in certain areas. Yes, there are things I fear and don’t see any conventional way you can help me or change my circumstances. Discouraged. Hopeless. Sad. These are all things I have felt, even today. Yes, I believe you can move and do something in these situations, but do I really. I believe. Help my unbelief.

Hezekiah’s prayer here and his response to the wisdom of the world is impressive. He hears the message from King Sennacherib, and it makes a lot of sense. Yeah, it doesn’t look like there is anything Judah can do to stop the onslaught. Yeah, the situation looks hopeless. But Hezekiah, even if he had some amount of unbelief, took what existed of his faith and laid it before you. I think this is the part of his prayer I liked the best: ¹⁷ “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. ¹⁸ And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.” He claimed your superiority to idols. He named them as idols and you as God. He rejected the premise of Sennacherib’s argument that you were just like any idol from any other country.

Father, you are greater than the idols of my country. You are greater than our economy. You are greater than our military, our government, and our other systems that make us work such as education and healthcare. I don’t know what you plan to do with us or our country, but I know that the history of the earth is not focused on the United States of America, regardless of how much we (or I) might want that to be. We are not your chosen people. Again, we might want to be, but we are not. So when I see the stock market negative, unemployment high, food scarce, and/or my health or the health of those around me in danger from one virus or another, may I lay my fears out before you. May I lay the lies and the faulty arguments before you. May I burn them at the altar, take up my cross and follow you today.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen