When God Says No

In Acts 12 we have an interesting sequence of events. It's kind of a one-on-one bout between King Herod and God. It starts out looking pretty good for Herod. He arrests the apostle James and beheads him. So he goes for it again in round 2, arresting Peter. Hey, in a couple of weeks, he's about to knock off 2 of the 3 apostles that were in Jesus' inner circle.

But God sends an angel to bust Peter out of prison. Herod is furious when he finds he's escaped and takes it out on the four prison guards assigned to Peter's cell. Round 2 goes to God.

In Round 3, Herod really thinks he's something and when people laud him as a god, he just basks in his own glory and God strikes him with a painful and untimely death of being eaten from the inside out by worms. By the way, the historian Josephus tells us that he lingered for five days before God put him out of his misery. God wins in a knock-out.

But here's what I really got to thinking about. Prayer. Sometimes I find myself doubting the power of my prayers. This is especially the case when it comes to illnesses. There have been times that I've earnestly prayed for God to heal someone and he has. But there have been just as many times that I've prayed for healing and they've gotten no better, or even died. That makes me feel like my prayers don't seem to make much difference. Can you relate?

But looking at Acts 12, it occurred to me that two very different outcomes happened in the lives of James and Peter. James got the axe, while Peter gets a dramatic rescue from God. Now, if we were there as observers, what would we conclude? Would we figure that Peter just got lucky? Would we have doubts about God answering prayer because he didn't rescue James?

The disciples were praying for Peter's rescue (v. 5, 12), but when he showed up at their meeting place door, they thought the servant girl was out of her mind when she announced that Peter was outside (v. 15). Doesn't much sound like they expected their prayer to be effective, does it? And no wonder, they had surely done the same thing for James. But he got his head chopped off. Kind of leaves you feeling like your prayers didn't matter, huh?

But they did matter. Right? That's why Luke emphasizes their prayers for Peter. God did respond to their prayers. So what do we make of James? God said no. Why? He doesn't say. But we can guess that he knew that James would better serve his mission to save the world through his death rather than through his rescue. So why not Peter instead of James? Who can say? Because God is sovereign and he chose to spare Peter. He has that right to choose.

I will never forget that God is King, and that his choices are furthering his mission, whether or not I understand or get to do what I hope. I will trust that prayer does unleash God's power, even though he doesn't always comply. When he says no, I will remember James. And when he says yes, I will remember Peter.

Father, I hope your plans for me are glorious but, in life or by my death, may the glory be yours. Amen.