In Acts 12, we have the story of Peter's imprisonment and miraculous
release. When those who have been praying for him are told that he's at the
door, their response is, "You're out of your mind." When they finally
let him in the house, they are "astonished." (Acts 12:15-16)
The normal take I hear on this story is, "Here they are praying,
yet they're astonished. What unbelieving people they were." But three
thoughts occur to me as I think this through. First, is the fact that their
prayers were answered in spite of their lack of faith rather than because of
great faith. Yes, Jesus told us that we should pray believing, but there is
nothing intrinsically powerful about our faith. Our faith does not
"make" God act, nor does it manipulate him into a position where he
"must" answer. God is God. Our faith must always be in the sovereign
God, not in our faith.
Second, it occurs to me that astonishment at answered prayer is better
than presumption and "ho hum, God answered another prayer." We never
want to take God and answered prayer for granted.
Third, it occurs to me that they may have expected God to answer their prayer;
they just didn't expect it in the middle of the night when prisoners aren't
normally released. I have discovered over the years that God rarely does things
the same way twice and he often works in ways we don't expect. James was just
recently killed. I expect they had prayed for him too. Peter had been in prison
and released before. They may have been praying that Peter experience God's
grace in his death, or they may have expected him to be released in the
morning. God had other plans.
I think that our response should be astonishment at the power and grace
of God when we read this story, not condemnation of an "unbelieving"
church. God's power is sovereign, infinitely variable, and should never be taken
for granted. It's not about us!
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