"Trust and Obey"

Today’s reading - Acts 12:7-9 (NIV): 7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.
8Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.

When I was a teenager, I hated it when my parents would come in and wake me up with some sort of loud noise or flashing overhead light or singing (that was the worse). It would startle me and my head would pound and heart would race and I would be out of sorts for quite a while. Guess what, I did it to my kids, although I never sang them out of bed, but a glass of cold water to the face, will get you out the door to go to High School. (now I wonder what I was thinking then.)

So the word ‘suddenly’ in this scripture means a lot to me and it must have Peter also after all a light appeared, a voice came and the chains fell off, all while sleeping between two guardsmen. Within a matter of seconds, the angel speaks to Peter giving instructions which he follows. I find it interesting to think that Peter had no idea what was going on and thought it was a vision.

As a teenager, to obey my parents was expected; they ran a pretty tight ship. But to obey out of a dead sleep, while in jail and from a light shinning in, had to take trust. The kind of trust that only God can provide. Peter was beginning to understand that God was guiding him and providing for him, so his trust in God was building.

You and I need those building block experiences with God in order for us to trust and obey. Our God, king of all kings, our great high priest, gives us that power within our flesh to trust that His son provided our salvation and the Holy Spirit continues to speak to us and guide us every moment. We must obey.

Dorothy Drago Brucks
Aldersgate UMC, Nixa, Mo
www.aldersgatgechurch.com