If the disciples were praying for Peter’s release, when they heard knocking on the door, surely they would have declared ‘Our prayers have been answered, Peter has been released.’ But no, they were baffled when the knocking came late at night and when Rhoda told them it was Peter, they declared that it must be his ghost. Stephen had been martyred, James had been martyred and they were expecting Peter to be the next. Maybe they had they been praying that he would die a good death and be true to his faith?
We should not judge them. How often do we pray for the wrong things or are amazed when God gives us what we have been praying for. Our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. We tell God what we want and the thoughts that we have but our ways are not God’s ways.
Peter had quite a different mindset from his apostle friends. He was so much at peace and trusting God that he was able to sleep deeply and peacefully. When he was free and staggering along the road, he thought he was dreaming. We know that Peter was prone to dreams, think of the large sheet of unclean foods and God’s lesson to him then.
We need to pray that God’s will be done and not our inferior will. He alone knows the end from the beginning and knows how things will work out.