We know what we mean when we talk about ‘black days’. There is 9.11; another day that is now marked in our memory in Britain is 7th July. The older among us will remember events from the second world war that were black days. Black days can also feature at a more personal level for us. For some it is the tragic death of a dear one, or any number of things can stand out in our minds as being for us a ‘black day.’

The events that we are looking at in Acts chapter 12 constituted a black day for the church there in Jerusalem. The leadership of the church consisted of Jesus’ 12 disciples, the group known as the apostles. Of those men there was an inner circle of three, Peter, James and John. King Herod makes an attack on the church. He arrests and executes James, and he imprisons Peter; two of those three key church leaders taken from the church.

Luke tells us that Herod saw that it ‘pleased the Jews’. That was the only reason he had begun this persecution, to please the Jews. To understand why it was important for Herod to please the Jews, we need to understand something of the politics of the time. There are three King Herods in the New Testament. They were the royal dynasty that the Romans allowed to govern Judea and the immediately surrounding areas.

But they all had a problem. Not only were they Roman collaborators, they were not a truly Jewish family; and they were disliked and mistrusted by the Jews, they particularly found it difficult to win the support of the Jewish religious leaders. Herod the Great, the first of these who was still living when Jesus was born tried to make himself popular with the Jews by building a magnificent new temple in Jerusalem. The Jews didn’t trust him when he promised to do this, and they would not allow him to take down the old temple until the materials for the new temple had been brought to Jerusalem ready to build.

His son, Herod Antipas was one of three brothers who each ruled part of their father’s territory. He acted swiftly to silence John the Baptist when John publicly criticized his adultery with Herodius. The Herod in Acts chapter 12 is a grandson of Herod the Great. The Romans had given him virtually all his grandfather’s territory to rule and once again he is trying to boost his popularity by taking up a cause that will be popular with the religious authorities; he is persecuting the Christians.

The religious authorities wanted to stamp out the church, but they had not been having much success. Instead of being stamped out the church had spread and grown. One of their key people in attacking the church had been converted and gone over to the other side. They were also restricted in what they could do by the fact that the Romans would not allow the religious authorities to exercise the death sentence. Herod on the other hand has all the authority of Roman law behind him, he can and he does use the death penalty.

So for no other reason than that a cynical monarch wants to boost his popularity, James is executed and Peter is arrested with his show trial and execution set for just after the Passover. It certainly was a black day for the church. Some people are under the false impression that Christian’s never have black days, and churches are always exempt from such calamities. But the reality is that trials, black days come to us all.

But what do you do when these black days come? That is the vital question. The answer is quite simply that you pray. That is what the church did. They turned to God for help. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. That is what over the centuries God’s people have found.

What we will do this morning is endeavour to learn some lessons regarding prayer from the story of the Jerusalem church as they faced up to the calamity that had befallen them.

The first thing to say is that we should beware of the temptation to turn away from God in such situations. It is a temptation when disaster strikes to blame God. ‘If God is almighty, why did he let this happen to me, or to my loved one?’ That is a common question that people ask. Some feel betrayed by God and turn away; they don’t pray, they become cynical or embittered.

So why should we pray? Why should we trust God when things go wrong? I believe the best reason is because of Jesus. Jesus showed us that as God’s son he was not immune from life’s suffering. The early believers knew that. Jesus had warned them that just as he had been persecuted, they would also be persecuted too. Disasters, black days do not mean that God doesn’t care. Even if we feel angry, even if we feel disappointed or let down, the right thing to do is to speak to God about it, to take it to the Lord in prayer.

The second thing to say is that Christian love and concern compel us to pray. Those early Christians loved and cared for each other. They cared for Peter; they cared for God’s Glory and God’s plans for his church. Their faith in God, their belief that he cared for his church compelled them to pray. The church was earnestly praying to God for Peter.

You also find that there was a real perseverance in prayer. Jesus had told his disciples to always pray and not lose heart. The indication is that the church had been praying for some time, Peter had been imprisoned for several days; the wording in v5&6 indicate that. The church was still praying for him on the final night of his imprisonment, even in the middle of the night.

It also has to be said that the church would be praying for God’s will to be done regarding Peter. We might tend to make the assumption that that the church was just praying for Peter to escape from prison because we know that is what actually happened. But we know that the believers were well aware that God did not always answer in that way. Jesus had gone to the cross, Stephen had been stoned, James had been killed. In fact where we are told what the church prayed when it was faced with persecution in chapter 4 v29 we find that they prayed that God would enable the apostles to speak God’s word with great boldness in spite of the threats and danger.

Whenever we pray, it should always be to pray that God’s will may be done, acknowledging that God in his wisdom always knows and does what is best. The church prayed, and God answered in a wonderful way. It was not the time for Peter to go to heaven. God had work for him to do on earth. God sends an angel; a bright light shines. Peter’s chains fell off, the prison doors open and Peter finds himself free again.

When Peter arrives at Mary’s house where he knows the believers will be praying, no one can believe that it’s him. That again shows us they were not really expecting Peter to get out of jail, even if they were praying for it. Answered prayer it seems is more to do with the power of God, than the faith of the believer. God in his wisdom and power can do immeasurably more than we ask or think.

After Peter has told his story to encourage those at Mary’s house, he asks them to be sure and tell James and the brothers what has happened. Off Peter goes, it seems he will probably have to lie low for a bit. Notice that James is mentioned as the person that they must report things to. This isn’t James the brother of John; he had been executed. It is another James; he is actually the brother of Jesus. He now seems to be coming to prominence as a leader of the church. It reminds us that when God allows his servants to be taken, he is also raising up others to take their place.

The church had faced the terrible ordeal of Herod’s persecution. God had brought them through. Herod’s plan to impress the Sanhedrin has been thwarted. Herod seems to have let his attentions focus on other things and forgotten the church. At the end of the chapter Luke can comment that the word of God continued to increase and spread.

Herod, on the other hand gets what he deserves. He may be king; but ultimately he has to answer to the King of Kings. As the ruler of Judea, he would have had ample opportunity to understand the biblical concept of monarchy, which gave glory to the one and only God of Israel. Herod in his arrogance allows himself to be worshipped. God strikes him down as an object lesson for all to see.

The gates of hell cannot prevail against the praying church of Jesus Christ. Why James dies at the hands of Herod and Peter is spared is not something that we can explain. Why four bombs explode on July 7th killing so many including believers we cannot understand. We know that God in his wisdom does not make his people immune from the evil and suffering in our world. Believers are subject to suffering just as their Lord was.

But yet we know that sometimes in his love and mercy God does thwart the evil plans of evil men. Was it an answer to prayer that on the 21st of July every single one of those four bombs planted in London failed to go off? We can each make our own judgements as to if that was an answer to prayer, but I am certain that we should be thankful to God for the lives spared and the suffering avoided on July 21st.

We have talked about black days. But ultimately, the days that stand out in human history are the good days. They are the days we ultimately remember. The days when Good triumphs over evil; the days when we rejoice in achieving our goals; the days when our hopes are fulfilled.

As we look forward to the good days we can put life’s black days in perspective. Because of Easter, because of the resurrection we can pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We can pray that prayer with faith and confidence because we know that through his church Gods plans and purposes will prevail. May we prayerfully keep the faith through the black days; confident that in Jesus there is light and grace and hope for our world.

Amen.

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