Not just luck

The night before Herod was going to bring him out to the people, Peter was sleeping between two guards. He was bound with two chains and there were guards on duty at the prison gate. Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there. and a light shone in the cell. The angel shook Peter by the shoulder, woke him up, and said, ‘Hurry! Get up!’ At once the chains fell off Peter’s hands. (verses 6,7)

Read Acts 12:1-17

Sometimes we think miracles like this only occurred in Bible times two thousand years ago, and we can be forgiven for thinking that. After all, the event was quite bizarre. Peter simply walked out of a heavily guarded prison, guided by an angel. Amazing!

But miracles do happen every day. The young defenceless woman is stranded by the roadside and is helped by a bikie with the symbol of a fish on his bike. The religious prisoner manages to hide a Bible in a regularly searched cell for years. That car going much too fast misses you by a whisker. A second brain scan shows no signs of an earlier tumour.

Unfortunately, our sceptical world dismisses such things as luck and looks no further. But Christians know that luck has another name: God’s grace. This grace surrounds you every day of your life.

Help me to see your hand in my life every day, Lord, and to know that your grace is with me always. Amen.

by Kathy Hoopmann, in ‘Guidance for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2002)

Visit the Daily Devotion archives page.