Acts 12:20-24

  Now he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and with one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king's chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because their country was fed by the king's country. And on an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. And the people kept crying out, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

 

  But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

 

Apart from Peter’s mysterious disappearance, Herod still seemed to have things under his control. He killed all the soldiers who let Peter escape (as if they could help it when they were up against God). And then he went to Caesarea.

 

And people kept acting as though Herod was in control. They treated him like a god! Sure, it was flattery. All they really wanted was peace so that he would allow them to eat. But eating is a pretty basic need, and these people believed that Herod was really in control over whether they would eat or not. Only God has that much real control. But since the people thought Herod was in control, they flattered him and praised him as if he were God.

 

Even Herod seems to have seen himself as worthy of this praise. He had been opposing, imprisoning, and killing God’s people rather than admitting that God was greater than he was. He had been playing God by withholding food from people because of his human anger at them. And now he was accepting their praise as he spoke: “The voice of a god and not of a man!”

 

But only God is God. There is no other. Herod’s arrogant aim to keep everything under his control – even God’s people – ended badly for him. An angel of the Lord struck him specifically because he did not give God the glory. Luke writes that Herod was “eaten by worms and died.” Not “Herod died and was eaten by worms.” The other way around. I’m not sure what that would have been like, but it sounds pretty gruesome.

 

Herod was not in control. He wasn’t even able to control himself. His authority over life and death couldn’t give him life. He was a man. And God was God. And because Herod pretended he was God, he died.

 

“But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.” Herod’s words had been praised as a god’s. But only God’s words last forever in power.

 

Father, thank You that when I come to You I am coming to the true God, the one who is actually in control, even when human leaders seem to be having their (not so lovely) way. Thank You that when I listen to You I am hearing reliable words because I am hearing from someone who is always here to fulfill His promises. You are so worthy and powerful and desirable! Teach me to treasure You more and more fully, and remind me that even the best of men are mere men. You are God!