Peter was Sleeping

Read Acts 12:1-19.

It took me a couple of days reading this passage before I finally realized why I was unsettled by the fact that Peter was sleeping and the angel of the Lord had to actually hit him to wake him up. How many of us would continue to sleep if we were sleeping in a cold prison cell in Jerusalem, with iron chains binding us, and all of a sudden the cell was suddenly filled with light. And this isn't a small candle flame. I imagine that the light of the angel of the Lord could really fill a place with a light as bright as the sun. And yet Peter sleeps through it all. I can almost see the angel in exasperation thinking, "Really? I'm going to have to hit this guy to wake him up?"

And if this scenario sounds sort of familiar to you, then you might be remembering the scene in Gethsemane, the night before Jesus is to be crucified, and he is crying out to God in prayer. Jesus had left his disciples, Peter, John, and James, back a little ways and had instructed them to watch and pray, and yet three times, Jesus came back and found them all asleep. And now, maybe only a year later, we see that on the eve of his own trial and presumed execution, with the entire Church praying for him, Peter is once again asleep.

The angel leads Peter out, the iron chains falling uselessly behind him, the guards supernaturally oblivious to all that was happening, the the iron gate swinging open of its own will. Peter remembered enough of the details afterward to give a good account, but while it was all happening, he was still so groggy from having been uncomfortably woken by the angel that he thought it was all a dream! I find this so fascinating, because one of the most noticeable differences between Acts and the Gospels is the change seen in the Apostles after they are given the Holy Spirit. And yet this tale of Peter's rescue is significantly reminiscent of the Peter we saw in the Gospels - the Peter who was too thick to understand Jesus' words even though he spoke slowly, the Peter who couldn't stay awake and pray to save his own life, literally.

No doubt God heard the prayers of the Church, but I think another important point here is that the Church failed to believe what had happened as well. When the servant girl reported that Peter was at the door, everyone else told her she was crazy. They had not been praying for Peter's divine rescue, or they would not have been surprised by it. And yet God did it anyway.

God's will cannot be thwarted by our lack of faith or our inability to focus and pray. Yes, the Holy Spirit works powerfully through those who pray and those who seek God., but never is the will of God deterred when we, His instruments, fail. This is a great comfort to know that even in our shortcomings, we can still pray to God with full expectation, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."