“And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Acts 7:59-60 KJV
The story of Stephen is a violent one: he is stoned to death. However, this story gives me so much peace! While the men were stoning Stephen, he called out to the Lord. He prayed. The Bible doesn’t say that Stephen cried and tried to cover his head, as most of us would. It simply says that he called upon God.
The part that I find most peaceful is that first, the verses do not say that Stephen fell down. It says he “kneeled down”. There is a big difference between falling and kneeling. Falling is an uncontrollable event, whereas kneeling is a precise movement: you know what you’re doing, and it is controlled. The second thing that fills my heart with peace is that it says Stephen “falls asleep”. Obviously, we know the story and we know Stephen died. However, the Bible doesn’t say that here. Sleeping is so peaceful and restful. It doesn’t tell us that Stephen was in excruciating pain and agony (which I’m sure he was after being pummeled with stones!). He simply “fell asleep”.
What grace the Lord provided for him! I like to think that the Lord gave Stephen the specific grace he needed for those exact moments and allowed him to die peacefully, even though the means of his death were extreme, violent, and harsh.
We may not be getting stoned in the way Stephen did, but the world is harsh sometimes. There are many stones that get thrown at us and our first instinct may be to fall down, cover our heads, and scream in pain. However, if we “kneel” down and call upon the One who is in control, we can simply “fall asleep” and have a peace within our hearts and lives and situations that only He can give. We might take a beating from some of those stones, but there’s no doubt that He will provide the grace we need to be sustained.
