[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.
[11] Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”
[12] When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. [13] Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. [14] When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
[15] “You're out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
[16] But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. [17] Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place."
I find this story interesting for several reasons. First, it is an amazing story of God's ability to do miraculous workings in our lives. This is like a scene out of the Xmen movie, an angel appears in a locked room, time seems to stand still and people are frozen in time, metal chains open up and fall off, doors open of their own accord! It is easy to imagine, but our logical minds tend to disbelieve events like this because we have been taught these things don't really happen in real life.
Second, I like the fact that the members of the church, who were praying for Peter to be saved, don't actually believe its him knocking at the door. Sometimes we can put on these super-faith airs, and act like we believe beyond a shadow of doubt that God can and will do something. Intellectually it is easy to say and think things, but when confronted with something even more spectacular than they were praying, the people praying respond with unbelief. This just seems so real and normal to me, it certainly gives an impression of being honest and unaffected by legend. We like to think we will believe, but when God does something astounding we usually greet the announcement with doubt, or as the people said when responding to Rhoda, "you're out of your mind".
Finally God is not worried about lack of faith on the people's part, He is about doing what He needs to do and has the power to do it.
So this morning I am encouraged for people who find themselves in impossible situations. God is completely aware of the situation. He has the power to do it. He hears the prayers of those praying. He is faithful!
Lord, thank You for moving in spite of our fears, doubts, unbelief and stupidness. We pray that You will increase our faith! We pray that You will intervene in the lives of people in desperate and impossible situations! We pray that You will glorify Your Name through miraculous events and actions. You truly are the God of the impossible!
Amen!
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