God's Involvement

Early Christians and non-Christians were playing a life and death game of chess. Christians made their move with preaching and teaching. Non-Christians made their move by imprisoning Christians. Christians came back with miracles and healings. Non-Christians responded with beatings and executions. Here, Herod (non-Christian) speaks to the public with the authority of a god, but without giving credit to God. So God killed him. As the stakes rise, so does God's involvement. It makes me wonder, in our world, how often God's involvement rises with the stakes. Today I'm going to seek God in all the news stories that I watch, and see if there's evidence of God's involvement in the most dire situations. I think I know what I'll find.

Narrative Lectionary Text: Acts 12:20-25

Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body; and after winning over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them. The people kept shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!” And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents. Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name was Mark.