Acts 4:19-26: a reflection

19But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, 20for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.” 21When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God for that which was done. 22For the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was more than forty years old. 23Being let go, they came to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24When they heard it, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, you are God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them; 25who by the mouth of your servant David, said, ‘Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? 26The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers plot together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.’

Hauled before the authorities and ordered to stop speaking about Jesus, Peter and John give an answer that has echoed through the ages: whether it is right to obey you rather than God, judge for yourselves, for we cannot help speaking of what we have seen and heard. Their boldness is not defiance for its own sake; it is the overflow of hearts so full of what God has done that silence is impossible. They must obey God rather than human threats.

Released, they return to their fellow believers, and the whole community responds not with panic but with prayer. They lift their voices together to God, beginning where faith always steadies itself, with who God is: Sovereign Lord, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. Then they recall the Scriptures that foretold the nations raging against the Lord and his Anointed. Facing opposition, they place it within the frame of God's sovereignty, remembering that the raging of the nations is no surprise to the God who made all things.

Two things to carry. First, when what you have seen of God fills your heart, speaking of him becomes not a burden but a necessity; ask God for that fullness that makes silence impossible, and for courage to obey him over the fear of others. Second, when you meet opposition, follow the church's example: gather to pray, and begin with who God is. Set your trouble within the frame of his sovereignty. The God who made heaven and earth is not threatened by those who rage, and neither, resting in him, need you be.

Lord, Peter and John could not help speaking of what they had seen, and when opposition came, your church gathered to pray, resting on your sovereignty over all things. Fill my heart so full of you that I cannot stay silent, and give me courage to obey you over the fear of others. When I meet opposition, teach me to pray, remembering that you made heaven and earth and are never threatened by those who rage. Amen.