Acts 12 Devotional

The Word Outlasts the King

“But the word of God continued to spread and multiply.”Acts 12:24 (BSB)

Acts 12 begins with a loss the chapter does not explain. King Herod has James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword (12:2). Then he arrests Peter. While Peter sleeps chained between two soldiers, the church prays earnestly for him (12:5-6). An angel wakes him, the chains fall off, and an iron gate opens by itself (12:7-10). Peter goes to the house where the believers are praying, and they are so sure it cannot be him that they leave him knocking at the gate (12:15-16).

The chapter holds side by side what we would like to separate. God rescues Peter and does not rescue James, and he answers the prayers of people who could hardly believe the answer when it stood at the door. Herod, meanwhile, accepts the crowd's praise as a god, refuses to give glory to God, and is struck down (12:22-23). Yet the word of God kept spreading (12:24). Kings rise and fall. God's word does not. You can keep praying even when your faith feels small.

To think about: What have you stopped praying about because the answer seems too unlikely, and what would it mean to bring it to God again?