Acts 4:27-31: a reflection

27“For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 28to do whatever your hand and your counsel foreordained to happen. 29Now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30while you stretch out your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.” 31When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

The apostles, having been threatened by the authorities and forbidden to preach, gather to pray. But notice what they pray for. They do not ask God to remove the threats, or to keep them safe, or to silence their opponents. They pray: Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness. Facing danger, they ask not for safety, but for boldness to keep proclaiming Christ. And God answers: the place is shaken, they are filled with the Spirit, and they speak the word with boldness.

Notice the striking shape of their prayer under threat. The natural thing to pray, when threatened, is for the danger to be removed, for safety, for the threat to pass. But the apostles prayed for boldness: not that they might be spared the danger, but that they might be faithful in it, continuing to speak God's word despite it. Their concern was not first their own safety, but their faithfulness; and so they asked for courage rather than escape.

That is a model for how to pray under pressure. When we face opposition, threat, or cost for our faith, our instinct is to pray for the trouble to be removed, for the pressure to cease, for our own safety. And there is a place for such prayers. But the apostles show us another, deeper prayer: for boldness to be faithful in the trouble, to keep doing what God calls us to despite the opposition. When you face pressure or opposition for your faith, do not pray only for the trouble to be removed; pray, as the apostles did, for boldness to be faithful in it. Ask God not first to remove your difficulty, but to give you courage to keep serving him through it; and trust that the God who filled the apostles with boldness will strengthen you to be faithful too.

Lord, when the apostles were threatened and forbidden to preach, they gathered to pray, and they asked not for the danger to be removed, but for boldness to speak your word; and you answered, filling them with the Spirit to speak with boldness. Give me that shape of prayer under pressure. When I face opposition, threat, or cost for my faith, my instinct is to pray for the trouble to be removed, for the pressure to cease, for my own safety; and there is a place for such prayers. But the apostles show me a deeper prayer: for boldness to be faithful in the trouble, to keep doing what you call me to despite the opposition. When I face pressure or opposition for my faith, keep me from praying only for the trouble to be removed; help me pray, as the apostles did, for boldness to be faithful in it. Help me ask you not first to remove my difficulty, but to give me courage to keep serving you through it; and let me trust that you who filled the apostles with boldness will strengthen me to be faithful too.