Pointing To God

Pointing To God

Bible: Acts 12:20-24

Reading

Because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down (V.23)

King Herod, dressed in his royal robes, gave a speech to the people who were eager to please him. He loved hearing their praise: “[This is] the voice of a god, not of a man!” the crowd shouted (ACTS 12:22). Herod should have known better than to try and take the place of God. He should have told the people, “I’m just a man!” But he didn’t; he loved being worshipped. Because he didn’t “give praise to God,” he was immediately “struck down” by “an angel of the Lord” (V.23). “He was eaten by worms and died” (V.24).

Paul and Barnabas, on the other hand, had such a great love and awe for God that they nearly panicked at the thought of being worshipped in His place (ACTS 14:14-15). When some people saw Paul heal a man who had been crippled from birth, they shouted “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Then they wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas (VV.11-13). When they heard this, they “they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ‘Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them’ ” (VV.14-15).

In these two opposite stories, we see how important it is to use our lives to point people to God, not to ourselves. He is the only One who deserves praise.

NOT TO US, LORD, NOT TO US BUT TO
YOUR NAME BE THE GLORY, BECAUSE OF
YOUR LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS. PSALM 115:1

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries