About that time, Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.
– Acts 12:1–3
If you know the rest of the story in this chapter, what happens is Peter is in prison and the church is praying for him. And as the church prays for him, God miraculously provides for Peter to escape prison. It’s an incredible story. There’s so much we could talk about just reading through Acts 12, but I’ve always been struck by these first couple of verses because we don’t have any explanation of why James was beheaded and Peter was delivered. Why, in God’s ultimately sovereign plan was one follower of Jesus, proclaimer of the gospel, killed with a sword while another follower of Jesus was miraculously delivered from prison?
Acts 12:1–3 Narrates God’s Sovereign Plans for Some of the Apostles
And the Bible doesn’t give us an answer. Sometimes we see God move in miraculous ways on behalf of his people to deliver his people from imprisonment or death. And other times, God’s people are imprisoned and they die. And the Bible doesn’t tell us why this happened to this person or that happened to that person.
In fact, if anything you think about John 21 when Peter was talking to Jesus, turned around and saw John and said, “What’s going to happen to him?” And Jesus looked at Peter and said, “If it’s my will that he remains until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” And so I just want to encourage you today with those words from Jesus in John 21. You follow me and resist the temptation to compare what God is doing in someone else’s life with what God is doing in your life.
Resist the temptation to ask, why is this happening to me or is that happening to that person? But to trust that God is sovereign over all things, that God is working all things together for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. And in some cases, Acts 12 makes clear a disciple loses his life, and in other cases, a disciple is miraculously delivered from prison.
Acts 12:1–3 Encourages Us to Trust God’s Sovereign Plan for Our Lives
What’s most important is that disciples of Jesus keep their eyes fixed on Jesus and trust him to lead, guide and direct their steps, yes, to intercede for others. That’s part of what Acts 12 shows us, a powerful picture of the church interceding for Peter. So it’s not that we don’t care about others, but we must be careful not to compare ourselves with others. Resist that temptation and keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, on God.
Help us, each of us, with all that’s going on in our lives today to trust you not to look around at others and to think, why did they have it better than me? Or why do they have it worse than me? But God to trust you, to seek you, to pray for others, to intercede for each other’s good. Oh God, we pray, especially in light of Acts 12, for those who are daily facing danger for following you right now, who are in the same position today that James and Peter were in that day.
We pray for those who are facing impending death. God, we pray for their trust in you, for their boldness with the gospel. We pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters who are in prison right now. God, we pray for their miraculous release. Lord, pray that you would open the door for them to be released and whether in prison or in freedom to proclaim the gospel.
God, we pray that would be true in every one of our lives, that we would fix our eyes on you. That it however you lead, guide, direct our steps that you would help us to follow you, to proclaim you, to lead others to you, trusting that you are working all things together in each of our lives for the good of those who love you and have been called according to your purpose.
Praying for the Aray Mala People
And in light of that purpose, your purpose in the world. God, we pray specifically today that you would direct the steps of some of your people to the Aray Mala people of India, this small Telegu-speaking people group that’s the lowest of the low when it comes to status in India. Lord, please bring Aray Mala men and women and children to know they are made in your image created to enjoy and exalt you and all of your glory.
God, we pray for the spread of the gospel, the good news of your grace, of your love, of the honor you bestow on your children among the Aray Mala people of India. And God, help us to do whatever you call us to do, no matter what it costs, to live for the spread of the gospel to people around us and to peoples like the Aray Mala around the world. In Jesus’ name, we pray according to Acts 12:1–3. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
