Thoughts on Acts 12

Today’s reading: Joshua 24; Acts 12

Prayer is not always nearly as straightforward and simple as I would personally like it to be.

Acts 12 opens up with Luke telling us that Herod had James, the apostle, executed, and that he had arrested Peter intending to put him to death as well, but that earnest prayer was being made for Peter by the church. The ultimate result of that earnest prayer for Peter is that God sends an angel to miraculously rescue Peter from prison the night before he is to be executed.

On the one hand, it’s exciting to look at this chapter and see how God moved in an incredible way, answering the prayers of the church, and rescuing Peter from execution. He is a God who hears our prayers, who is active in history, and who has the power to accomplish literally anything He desires. So it is amazing and encouraging to meditate on the reality of the God who hears our prayers.

But then there’s the other hand. As exciting as it is to consider the rescue of Peter, what about James…? And why did God leave the church hanging as long as He did, not rescuing Peter until the night before his execution? Does Luke want us to assume that the church was not making earnest prayer for James when he was arrested? Or are we to assume that the church had not bothered praying for Peter until right at the end and then they started praying for his deliverance? I don’t think that is his point at all. In fact, I think their response of prayer to Peter’s imprisonment is probably pretty indicative of their response to James’ imprisonment as well. 

So why did God rescue Peter but let James die? And why did He wait to rescue Peter until the very last minute? I don’t honestly know. I could certainly conjecture some reasons, and there are some passages on suffering producing endurance and endurance producing character that I could point to as possibilities, but ultimately I simply do not know.

This is one of the hardest things about prayer in my opinion. It is one thing when it is distant or abstract, talking about leaders in the early church, almost 2000 years ago, but it is another thing entirely when it is  near and personal. Conjecture about why or theological platitudes aren’t all that helpful when earnest prayer is being made for your family member, but they aren’t ever healed of their illness, or when you pray earnestly for your marriage, but it still ends in divorce. Was the prayer even worth it? Did it accomplish anything? Is it worth continuing in prayer, or is it actually just a feel-good thing for us?

The thing that’s worth noticing here in Acts 12 though is that they still prayed for Peter. If we assume the church was praying for James, then we have to assume that they dealt with these same questions and doubts. They prayed earnestly for James and God allowed him to be killed anyway, so was it worth prayer? If it’s not going to accomplish anything, is there any value in praying for Peter? And the answer they came to was evidently, “Yes, it is worth it.”

I don’t know why some good, righteous, earnest, and faithful prayers get answered and others don’t, but I do know that the God we serve is good, faithful, and righteous, and I know that He has vision and understanding well beyond anything I could ever have, and so for me personally, even though I feel confused on this question and wish I had a better answer, I will continue to make the same decision as the church did in Acts 12 and continue to seek the Lord, trusting in His faithfulness, even when I don’t get the answers in prayer that I want.