Acts 1:24

They prayed. What a prayer this must have been, springing fresh from a simple insistent faith. In every great moment of the infant church prayer was spontaneously resorted to. This was not from mere habit, though the habit was good; nor as a ritual, for this had not yet come to formalize the worship of the church, but because it seemed to the apostles as natural to talk, through prayer, to their Lord in heaven as it had been to talk face to face with Jesus on earth. So should it have ever been in the church’s experience, and so should it now be.

Lord. Inasmuch as Jesus had instructed His disciples to address their requests to the Father, in His (Jesus’) name, it is to be presumed that the word “Lord” here refers to the Father.

Knowest the hearts. Compare 1 Sam. 16:7; Ps. 139:1-4; John 2:25.

Shew. The 120 had used their best judgment in putting forward the names of Barsabas and Matthias. Now they called on the Lord to make the final choice.