“I got worms.”

I was recently reading about a king named Herod Agrippa. Probably not a name that comes up in casual conversation at the dinner table, but he was kind of a big deal. Herod’s rule was during the time when Jesus’ message was beginning to rapidly spread. Due to his deep Jewish roots, Herod wanted to do anything possible to destroy Christianity. This included having James (John’s brother) publicly killed by a sword and throwing Peter in prison to await his execution. But, things didn’t go as planned, as an angel led Peter out of his heavily guarded cell (Acts 12:6-18). This really ticked off Herod. When no one could find Peter after a while of searching, Herod interrogated the guards and then sentenced them all to death.

But, Herod’s anger didn’t end there. He decided to flex his authority against the lowly countries of Tyre and Sidon. Since they depended on Herod’s country for food, they had to brown nose their way back into his good graces. They were granted an appointment with Herod who donned his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made an epic speech. Acts 12:22 says, “The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, ‘It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!’” This was a bad move. The next verse in Acts says:

Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.

I’m sorry, but that is so……..awesome! I mean, God didn’t just kill him. But my man was consumed with worms. Maybe this is just my sick side, but I wonder what that looked like.

So here is the question for us:: Are we more concerned with worship and recognition for ourselves, than for giving glory and credit to God? Are we seeking recognition from people instead of doing things that God asks us and created us to do? If so……you got worms!