Tuesday, April 5 – Acts 5:22-24

But the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported, saying, “We found the prison locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” Now when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this.

 

Before this moment in Acts, God’s power had been evident, but a lot of the wonder had been attached to the apostles to the point that people started giving Peter credit for these miracles and brought sick people just to be in his shadow. Here we see God’s power on display in a way that could never be confused with the apostles’ ability. With witnesses, guards, and locks, God worked a miracle to set the apostles free so that they could keep spreading the gospel message.

 

Sometimes, in life, we hit moments of discouragement, and we don’t know how to move forward. Defeat threatens to overwhelm us, and we forget the ability of our God. We may have seen Him work through our lives so much that we forget it was Him at work all along and never as result of our own strength. The apostles were not documented as being shocked or stunned, but those around them were. Where the apostles were patiently confident in God’s ability, everyone else was perplexed by how such a thing could happen. May we also trust the ability of God over every scary and anxiety-inducing thing we see. He is our Anchor, and He will hold us secure in the storm. When the pressures and fears of the world seem heightened, we can remind ourselves of God’s ability over our own. As Romans 8:31 says, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

 

• When have you been reminded of God’s ability in your life?
• What would confidence in God look like in your life right now?

Pray and ask God to remind you of who He is and how powerfully and intentionally He works.