What good are locks if you can’t keep what you’ve locked away?
Acts 5:23 – Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
______________________
I love the imagery set forth in our Text for Today. Read it once again for yourself. The prison was securely locked with no sign in entry or exit. But when the gates and doors were unlocked, they couldn’t find anyone inside. There were no tunnels, no broken locks, no slain, wounded, drugged, or bribed guards. The prison was MYSTERIOUSLY empty. This scene is a reminder of other instances in God’s Word when God’s men were imprisoned. For Paul, we see an earthquake that loosed their bonds, broke open the prison doors, and set every man free. We see it for Elisha in his statement to his servant, even before anything could be seen, that there were more with the two of them than there were with all the enemies that could be seen. When Darius looked into the den of lions, expecting to them the lions licking blood from their grizzled mouths, he saw lions with closed mouths and Daniel using his mouth to give glory to God. When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fiery furnace, instead of ashes and charred remains of those who were cast in, he saw FOUR men walking about, and FOURTH was like unto the son of God. And let us not forget David; a lad the Philistines expected to see on the head of Goliath’s spear, instead brought Goliath’s head from the field of battle, having been severed from his shoulders. And one more; Samson facing a thousand Philistines. His death seemed imminent, yet hopeless as it seemed, they all fell to the jawbone of an ass.
In each of these instances, it appeared that the fate of a man of God was sealed, either by superior forces, unquenchable fire, hunger ravaged lions, giants, or prison bars with guards. Yet in every case, as much as it seemed their fate was “locked tightly away,” when the light was cast on the final scene, they were all set free. That, dear friend, is the hand of God at work for those He has called if they will, in faithfulness, answer that call.
And so, it can be for you, too, my dear friend. I know God has called you to something of His divine choosing. I know He has made it possible for you to be fully equipped for that to which He has called you. The question then is this – are you faithfully preparing yourself to walk in that calling with every resource He has made available to you? It’s up to you. When the enemy comes for you, and he will, will he find your place of captivity empty? I pray so.
Manna for Today – Acts 5:17-42; John 8:31-32; Matthew !8:18-20; Matthew 12:34; Romans 3:4; Psalm 107:20
My Second Miler by Dr. Beechard Moorefield 