Rhoda at the Gate

“When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate.” — Acts 12:14

When Peter realised that the angel had really rescued him, he went to the house of a woman called Mary, the mother of John Mark. Many believers had gathered there, and they were praying.

They were praying for Peter.

Peter knocked at the outer door. A servant girl called Rhoda came to answer it.

“Who’s there?” she might have asked.

And when she recognised Peter’s voice, she was so happy that she forgot to open the door! Instead she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”

“You’re out of your mind!” they told her.

But Rhoda kept insisting it was true.

“It must be his angel,” they said.

Isn’t that funny? They had been praying and praying for Peter to be set free. And when God answered their prayer, they didn’t believe it! They thought Rhoda was being silly.

Meanwhile, poor Peter was still standing outside in the street, in the middle of the night, knocking and knocking. Herod’s soldiers might come looking for him at any moment!

At last they opened the door. And there was Peter! They were completely amazed.

Peter waved his hand to tell them to be quiet. He told them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers about this,” he said. (This was a different James, probably Jesus’ brother, who became a leader of the church in Jerusalem.) Then Peter left, and went somewhere safe.

The next morning, there was a big commotion among the soldiers. “What happened to Peter?” They searched everywhere for him. But they couldn’t find him.

Rhoda was just a servant girl. But she was the first to know that God had answered the church’s prayers. And she wouldn’t stop saying so, even when the grown-ups told her she was out of her mind.

Sometimes God answers our prayers in ways we don’t expect. Sometimes the answer is standing right outside the door, knocking! Rhoda reminds us to believe that God really does hear and answer.

Read it in your Bible: Acts 12:12–19

Dear God, thank you that you hear and answer prayer. Help me to believe that you will answer, and to be glad when you do. Amen.