September 22, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Friday, September 22.
Do you ever question God? Do you ever have questions about His fairness, His justice, His will? Have you ever asked Him, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Today, we focus on a story that raises these kinds of questions.
In Acts 12:3 we encounter one of the great rescue stories of the Bible. Peter had been arrested by King Herod and thrown into prison, placed in chains, and surrounded by guards. And then, in the middle of the night, God sent an angel to break Peter's chains, an angel who walked him out of the prison, unnoticed and unscathed. Peter ran to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where a group of believers had gathered to pray. When Peter knocked at the gate, a teenage girl, Rhoda, was so surprised to see him that she forgot to open the gate, but ran back in the house to shout the good news! It was a joyful story, a miracle of God's protection of His own.
But we sometimes forget what happened immediately before Peter was rescued. Here are the words of Acts 12:2 - "King Herod had James, the brother of John, arrested and put to death by the sword". This is the same James who was part of Jesus' inner circle with his brother John and Peter. They alone were with Jesus at the Transfiguration, they alone witnessed Jesus praying in the Garden. This was a man that Jesus trusted, this is a man to whom Jesus gave special access and authority, this was a man who Jesus loved. So why was Peter rescued while James was not? Why did John live to an old age, while his brother James was the first disciple to be martyred? Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why God?
There are moments when questions like these come to our minds. If you've read to the end of this devotion anticipating an answer to these questions, then I apologize. I don't have that answer. I have only these words from I Corinthians 13 - "Now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now we know in part; but then we shall know, even as we are known."
Meet you back here on Monday,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
