The Lord’s Rescue

Recall how Herod the King beheaded James, the brother of John (Acts 12), and how when he saw that it pleased the Jews, arrested Peter and put him in prison. Although Peter was well restrained in the prison, an angel came and released him out onto the streets.

But in verse 5 of that chapter, we are told that the church had been fervently praying for him. There is a call right now in our nation to gather as Christians and pray, pray for those who are held by governing authorities that are anti-God.

In verse 11, after Peter had been led out through heavy iron gates, he finally realized that he was not dreaming or having a vision. Or as it says, when he came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod.”

I do believe that there are many of us who have been rescued, but didn’t come to the realization of God’s intervention until later. I know that at least once, Steve and I experienced this kind of rescue.

In Kenya, East Africa where we served as missionaries, we experienced an accident in which our truck was totaled, our supplies were scattered, and we were thrown us out of the truck and injured. We were many miles from home, stranded on the edge of a desert.

At some point fairly soon after the accident, a car pulled up with a man and wife. The wife asked the husband to drive to the police outpost to get help for us, while she began to gather our belongings and place them near us. At that point a bus drove up and people began to pile out and run toward us.

This woman immediately stood up and commanded the people to get back into the bus and continue in their travel. She was concerned that they might help themselves to our stuff. Nothing was lost – amazingly!

The police soon arrived, took us to a hospital and took our gathered items to the police outpost. Our Mission airplane soon came to get us and flew us to our mission hospital many miles away.

As I reflect on this experience, I do believe this woman, (who stopped to help us) was sent by the Lord as an angel.