| Acts 12:11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
Isn't it interesting how our responses to life are governed by our expectations for life? That's why some people go through life expecting all of the worst things to happen to them, and they do. Other people can be walking around on the dreariest of days but have a certain shine about them because of what they expect in the long run.
Acts 12 is a wonderful example of how our responses are governed by our expectations. Peter had been taken prisoner by Herod. Herod had previously killed James, and because it was so popular, he intended to do the same thing with Peter. Well, God answered prayer, and miraculously spared Peter. It's fascinating to see what people had expected and thus how they responded to Peter's release from prison.
For instance, in Acts 12:11 it says, "And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews." What did all the people expect? They expected Peter to be killed, but he wasn't because what they saw was not as accurate as what God knew.
When Peter was freed, he went to a house where there was a prayer meeting. It very well may be that the prayer meeting was on his behalf. The Bible says that when Peter came to the courtyard where believers were praying, they were astonished at his appearance. They could not believe that it was actually Peter, despite the fact that they had been praying that God would do just exactly what God did.
What did Peter expect? Well, the Bible tells us back at the very beginning of the story that Peter was sleeping; he wasn't worried because he expected to be spared. Now why did he expect that? He was resting in the promise of God, the Word of God.
John 21 records how that Jesus had told Peter how Peter would die, at least in a general sense. He told Peter that his death would happen when he was old. Peter's confidence came from what Jesus had said.
Is there always an explicit promise that you can apply to every situation of your day? There are times when you simply rest in the Providence of God. That is, you know that God is in control, that God is good, and that He will do right regardless of what you can see. But there are other times when you have something even more than that. You have the Word of God, the promise of God.
Let your expectations be governed by what God says, and not by what you see. Sometimes we don't see what really is. What we see can be flawed, but what God says never is. You can rest in His Word today.
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