Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

Acts chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. About that time,

Herod the King laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.

He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.

And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

And if you know the rest of the story in this chapter,

what happens is Peter is in prison and the church is praying for him.

And as the church prays for him, God miraculously provides for Peter to escape prison.

It's an incredible story.

There's so much we could talk about just reading through Acts chapter 12.

But I've always been struck by these first couple of verses

because we don't have any explanation of why James was beheaded

and Peter was delivered.

Why?

And God's ultimately sovereign plan was one follower of Jesus,

Proclaimer of the Gospel, killed with the sword,

while another follower of Jesus was miraculously delivered from prison.

And the Bible doesn't give us an answer.

Sometimes we see God move in miraculous ways on behalf of his people

to deliver his people from imprisonment or death.

And other times, God's people are imprisoned and they die.

And the Bible doesn't tell us why.

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