God sent Jonah on an errand, but he rose up and fled from the presence of the Lord. In his attempt to run away from the presence of the Lord, he encountered the wrath of God. Although he knew that the Lord was angry with him, he delayed his repentance until he found himself in the belly of a fish. The Lord would have forgiven Jonah, if he repented in the ship. He would not have gone to spend three days in the belly of the fish.

Shortly after the last supper, before going to mount Olives, Jesus revealed to his disciples that they would all forsake Him that night. Despite Peter's response in verses 33 and 35 of Matthew chapter 26, he both forsook and denied the Lord. False prophets, teachers and apostles are walking about like wolves in sheep's clothing seeking whom they may deceive. Brethren, we must watch and pray so that we are not overcome by temptation.

The Church was praying for the deliverance of Peter and God seemed to be silent for a while but suddenly he intervened just in time before Herod could execute his heinous plan. Let not your heart be troubled when the answer to your prayer appears to be delayed. The just-in-time God never shows up late.  You will notice from the account in our text that Peter slept on the night before the day Herod planned to kill him. 

Although Peter recognised the speaker as Lord and Master, yet his response was contradictory. By saying, 'not so, Lord', Peter appears to be saying that he knows better than the Lord. But a slave should obey his Lord without question. Or shouldn't a servant carry out his Master's command without argument? Whatever appears to be the foolishness of God is wiser than men.

Joseph, in Potiphar's house, refused to commit immorality with his master's wife. Daniel, in Babylon did not defile himself with the portion of the king's food and drink. These Hebrew children declared their stand and walked worthy of God, even in a foreign country. The unchanging standard of God's word demands that we endeavour to live right always and everywhere.