Credit Due – Acts 12:22

Acts 12:22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.”

It can be so easy to give credit where credit isn’t due. Leaders throughout history have been given credit for events over which they had no control. Most of the time nothing happens to them. They bask in the limelight for a moment and often profit personally from their position.

We have seen our leaders profit from their positions. Just look at the net worth of our national leaders before their first election and after their last service. Almost without exception their wealth has rocketed to unbelievable heights.

And almost without exception, they think they deserve that increase.

We have an account in our text of a moment when this inflation of ego took its toll immediately. The crowd has gathered in order to strike a deal with Herod, the Roman ruler of that region. They have been in a trade dispute and they want it resolved. Their lives depend on it.

You see, their food supply was dependent on Herod’s influence. Without Herod’s approval, their lives were at risk, and the lives of their families. They needed the food that Herod supplied. We aren’t sure exactly what food stuffs Herod supplied, but it had led to a trade battle. They wanted it settled.

So the day of the meeting arrives, and Herod shows up with all the pomp and circumstance befitting a king. The banners and trumpets are present. There is a cheering crowd ‘recruited’ for the occasion. The Media is there recoding the whole event and Herod is the “Man of the Hour.”

What I find interesting is the juxtaposition of this story with that of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion of Chapter Ten. Cornelius shows humility in responding to a vision from God. He sends for a nobody to teach him about Somebody. And he receives life.

Herod, on the other hand, thinks he is a somebody. He thinks he is someone special, that he has power in himself. And in a strange twist, he receives death for his beliefs.

Now I don’t expect our leaders to get the same fate as Herod did when they take credit for someone else’s work. But I wish they did!

But then again, if they get eaten by worms and die when they don’t give the LORD credit, what might happen if I participate in that same folly!

Give the LORD credit! Leaders come and go. We came and we will go.

The chapter ends by saying, “But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.” May this be true in our day. May His Word be heard, both by word and actions, in perfect synchrony, to reach this world, starting right were we live.