D a i l y D e v o t i o n a l S T UD I E S IN THE NEW TE S TAMEN T FOR INDIVIDUAL MEDITATION AND FAMILY WORSHIP By R A. TORREY _ _ 1 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ un i
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Monday, January i. Acts 12 : 7 - 8 .
him, that Peter was left to do for himself what he could do, viz., put on his shoes and cast his garment about him. God does not do for us supernaturally- what we can naturally do for ourselves. God is gracious, but grace does not put a premium on lazi ness. Tuesday, January 2 . Acts 12 : 9 - 11 ._ If Peter had been like many of us he would have stopped before he got to the iron gate and debated how they were to get through it. But he had more sense and did just as he was told and left the how with God. It was'not until he actually reached the gate that the gate opened be fore him. If, instead of stopping and dreading difficulties from a distance, we would march right up to them, we would find them moving out of the way when we reach them. Our part is simply to obey God and all difficulties that seem to lie in the. path of obedience will disappear when we get to them. The angel led Peter no further thaft he needed his guidance, but when they reached the place where Peter could look out for himself, the angel dis appeared. That is God’s uniform method of procedure. God does answer prayer; indeed, God does wqnderful things in an swer to prayer, but above all, He is always* ready to deliver His people in time of trouble if they call upon Him (Ps. 50:15). It is true Herod’s hand was mighty, the mightiest hand in all the land, but God is mightier than Herod, and it was not diffi cult for the_ Lord to deliver Peter out of Herod’s mighty hand. . The strongest hand on earth is utterly weak when God puts forth His hand. God still sends for His angels to minister in behalf of those who are heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:13, 14). It
A prison cell is a dark and dismal place, but this prison cell became luminous, and no place is more luminous than a prison cell when an angel of the Lord stands there. Prayer has brought heavenly light into many a prison cell. The definite article “the” before “angel of the Lord” should be changed into an indefinite article, “an,” as in the Greek text. “The Angel of the Lord” is a definite person, as we have seen in previous lessons, and none other than our Lord Jesus Himself. Into that we can not go further than to say “The Angel of the Lord” never appears after the birth of Christ. Though we find the expression “The Angel of the Lord” in the Authorized Version; it is always a mistranslation. The angel mentioned in this verse was very un ceremonious, “he smote Peter on the side and woke him.” Sharp blows are often more loving than gentle lullabys. It is fre quently necessary to rudely waken a man before he can* be delivered. Poor, tired Peter may have needed sleep, but he need ed deliverance more, and it was a mercy to wake him up, though it took a sharp blow to do it. Peter had so habituated him self to obeying God that he did it in his sleep, or when fie was not more than half awake and thought he was asleep. He did exactly what God’s messenger bade him do. He wasted no time debating with the angel as to whether his demands were rational. They did not seem to be rational. It was well for Peter that he did not debate either with himself or the angel whether it was a vision or a reality, but went right along and did just as the Lord’s messenger bade him do. It is well to note that while the angel woke him up and caused his chains to fall off, and the doors to open before
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