Oh how the mighty fall!

Scripture  Acts 12:21-23   “21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.’

Observations:  We finished Exodus today.  The tabernacle is complete.  The priestly garments are complete.  All is in place, and the glory of God is present!  It would have been a sight to behold.  Psalm 15 was short but to the point.  It gave good guidelines of who can plan to live with Jesus for eternity.  In Acts, Peter is arrested and bound with chains, but an angel of the Lord frees him.  He returns to the brothers, but at first they think he is a ghost.  Herod, after killing the prison guards who let Peter escape, goes to Caesarea where things take a bad twist.

Application:  It seems to me that God gave Herod a lot of opportunities to change his way, but he was prideful and wicked to the core.  Pride ended up being his downfall.  Now I don’t suspect that we will be eaten by worms and die if we are prideful, but I think this is a great reminder that God must receive ALL the Glory. At church this evening we watched the movie “Do You Believe” and I really cringed when the doctor was telling that God gets the glory while he was doing all the work. What?  He couldn’t do it if God hadn’t given him the ability to learn, and the hands to work with.  Stay humble.

Prayer:  Father God, you are worthy of all praise and all glory.  You own everything, but you graciously let us use it.  You have given us our abilities.  Don’t let us take credit for our accomplishments.  To you be the Praise and the Glory forever!

Tomorrow’s Reading  Leviticus 1-3; Acts 13