Week 4, Day 4
Today’s Reading: Acts 13-14
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
Chapter 12 of Acts shows us King Herod, and a lot about his personality. In the first part of chapter 12, we see that Herod was determined to appease the Jews, even if that meant taking the life of a man who had done him (or the Jews) no wrong. James was the first of the apostles (at least as recoreded for us) who was martyered for the cause of Christ. But, Herod was determined to do away with some of the others as well, since it made the Jews happy. So, he arrested Peter, and determined to put him to death as well.
In verse 19, we see that Herod also would not tolerate those who had some role in his will not being carried out. The guards, who had been chained to Peter prior to his release by an angel, we executed because they had allowed Peter to escape. Of course, there was nothing that these men could have done to stop this from happening, but Herod was not going to show any mercy to them. It should probably be pointed out that this would have been the standard punishment for a guard who let his prisoner escape. However, under these circumstances, it seems that Herod (if he believed them) could have shown some mercy. There is some question (at least in my mind) as to whether these guards even knew what had happened to them. Peter himself did not know what was happening until he was out of the prison, and had been left in the street by the angel. Whatever the circumstance, it is clear that Herod was not a merciful man.
Finally, in verses 20-23 we get a real view of the character of Herod. He was an arrogant man, who allowed the people to flatter him, and even praise him as “the voice of a god and not of a man!” Obviously, he was allowing this praise to affect him, as he was unwilling to stop such blasphemous sayings. Because he did not give God the glory, he was struck dead by an angel of the Lord, and was eaten by worms. Most likely, Herod was indeed very articulate, and very eloquent. That is not what the problem was. In fact, the problem was that he did not give God the glory for the talents that he had! He put his confidence in himself, and was arrogant about his own abilities. He allowed the people to treat him in a way that he never should have. As a consequence, he was punished with death.
There are many lessons that we can learn from Kind Herod. First, we can learn that we ought not do things just to please other people. Herod’s actions at the beginning of chapter 12 were obviously sinful, as he was putting innocent people to death. But, he did that just to please the Jews, and make them like and accept him. If we make decisions in life just to please other people, we will also end up doing the wrong things. We must do what is right, regardless of how others respond to it!
Secondly, we shoudl learn that we need to be merciful people. Mercy is one of the greatest characteristics of God. If we are going to be like Him, then we must adopt his characteristics. We are not going to be in a position to say who lives or dies, but we have opportunities all the time to be merciful to those around us. When someone hurts us in some way, or sins against us, we can forgive them. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that God links his forgiveness to our willingness to forgive others. He will be merciful to us, if we will be merciful to others around us.
Finally, we should learn that we cannot be arrogant and still be pleasing to God. God has given each one of us talents in this life. He expects for us to use those talents, but He also expects us to give Him the glory. There is nothing that we can do in and of ourselves. We are blessed by God to have the talents that He has given. We should remember the account of Herod when someone praises our abilities. Give God the glory for all that you can do!
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