…Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. And he became hungry and desired something to eat; but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance… Acts 10:9-10
If we have fallen in love with God, falling seems to become a way of life. We keep falling short of His glory, but the more we glimpse it, the more we fall on our knees in glad adoration. We fall in with weird or wonderful people, and fresh ideas fall into our head. When we pray assailed by hunger pangs, we might as well fall into a trance.
The fancy word is ecstasies – “a displacement of the mind.” Let the cautious try this test: Come home “hungry enough to eat a horse,” but corral yourself in your prayer closet while dinner is being prepared. Find your “stable mind” displaced by the heavenly smells that come from the kitchen. Restrain in vain the thoughts that stampede toward favorite foods heading for the family table. Lick your lips and lament the stomach growls that bring to mind Pavlov’s salivating dogs. Do leash your run-away imagination and resolve to refocus your mind on the agony and ecstasy of Peter’s prayer time. Part 1 of 2
Comment: When God blessed us with a new lead pastor in midsummer 2023, many were elated, while others worried. He didn’t seem to be cut from the cloth of predictable Presbyterianism and soon hinted at changes as radical as taking on a new church name. Should this innovator ever suggest we meet on the roof for prayer, be thankful the hole has to be fixed first. Actually, this account isn’t about having a fixed place or time for prayer, but I do think we should let Mark put in a word edgewise. He was Peter’s protégé and his was the first of the three synoptic (“as seen together”) gospels. Mark was fond of the word “immediately,” using it 41 times. It didn’t always mean “just then,” but it propelled the narrative forward with speed and urgency. Mark didn’t bother with genealogy or the nativity, but drew the reader’s attention quickly to the praying Jesus in chapter 1:35, “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” His was a life marked by obedience. “Jesus got up” to answer the upward call to be in His Father’s presence. “Quality time” with Him outranked every human demand on His Sonship.
In my German Bible, the Book of Acts is called Apostle Geschichte, the Story of the Apostles. Pastor Lance won’t mind, I’m certain, if I side with Luke, the beloved physician who wrote the book as THE ACTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. See for yourselves! The Church, birthed in Jerusalem at Pentecost, is now on the “go” in obedience to Christ’s parting instructions. Peter has healed a paralytic in Lydda and raised Dorcas from the dead in Joppa. There Peter is staying in the home of Simon the tanner, a trade considered “unclean” by the Jews.. Simon was treating animal hides to produce leather in his house “by the sea.” Perhaps his house guest craved some fresh air and chose to go pray on the housetop. The seaport of Joppa is today’s Jaffa, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
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