"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them" Acts:16:25.
It was an unlikely time and place for a worship service, but the location did not
trouble St. Paul and Silas. They had just been arrested unjustly beaten and imprisoned yet here they sat worshiping the Great God.
Still bleeding and in pain and given the surroundings the two men did what to most, would seem a contradiction, they lifted their voices and worship God.
After rebuking a spirit of divination, that worked through a slave girl and causing a loss of revenue for this girl's master St. Paul and Silas were falsely accused, severely beaten and then cast into prison at Phillippi.
"The crowd joined in the attack against
Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.
After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the
jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he
put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in
the stocks" Acts:16:22-24
Here, the two Christian ministers were, while on the way to a prayer meeting, they encounter a young woman with a spirit of divination. When St. Paul turned and rebukes the spirit casting it out of the girl. The girl's master seeing only a loss of income stirs up an assault on the two men of God.
They were beaten, falsely accused and locked
in a secure cell in the very depths of the prison, bound in chains. But
in this dismal place, at midnight, the darkest part of the night, they lift
their voices in praise to God and glorified Jesus Christ.
"About midnight Paul and Silas
were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening
to them" Acts:16:25.
This was their response to the circumstances, they did not fall into self-pity
nor did they focused upon the pain they were in, instead they worshiped.
They understood that Jesus was there with them, Jesus is the strength they
needed to face this or any time of hardship. They worshiped their Lord, without
shame or reservation. They Knew there was nothing to fear.
As it says in Heb: 13:5-6 “Never will I leave you; never
will I forsake you. ”So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will
not be afraid. What can man do to me?”"
God's Response
As St. Paul and Silas praised the great God,
at the darkness part of the night, when mornings' light was still far off, God
responses to their worship and shakes the Earth.
"Suddenly there was such a violent
earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the
prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose". Acts: 16:25
The door of their cell is broken off its hinges,
the chains are broken, but they do flee, that is they do not need to escape the
situation, for they are already free. The freedom that St. Paul and Silas had
is true freedom found only in Jesus. They, in truth, were the freest men in the
prison they had a freedom which goes beyond circumstance.
The Jailer under who's charge they were in,
sees what has happened and assumes they have fled and moves to end his life,
and is to his amazement, is stopped by St. Paul.
"The jailer woke up, and when he saw the
prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he
thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We
are all here!” Acts:
16:27-28
Realizing that they are still here in spite of the obvious opportunity to
escape was not taken, the jailer sees the faith in these men to stand and face hardship,
sustained by the faith of the Lord they serve.
The Jailer is over whelmed and is moved to conversion
and a desire to know this Jesus who has moved so mightily in their lives.
"The jailer called for lights, rushed in
and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked,
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and
you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord
to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer
took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were
baptized.The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he
was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole
family" Acts 29-34
All Have Trials
Just as St. Paul and Silas were on their way
to a prayer meeting and found themselves in a very difficult situation, we too
can find ourselves with challenges, that imprison us, but how do we
respond? Difficult times will come upon us all, hopeful we won’t find
ourselves facing what Paul and Silas did but we all will face trails of some
sort.
"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to
you:" 1Pet:4:12
We can face many things in this life, but how
do we respond? Paul and Silas in truth demonstrate how we all should face
difficulties from which there seems no way out, even when there is no comfort
at hand, we truly are in the "inner prison", just
as St. Paul and Silas found themselves. We can be, at the midnight our of our
trail, that is, when all seems dark, it is now at these moments of trials that
we should worship and praise God and give Him glory.
At Mid Night
When it seemed the darkest, at mid night, the darkest part of the night when
the hopeful dawn was yet far off their voices rose up in the night and songs of
praise echoed in the cold prison corridors, Acts tells us that the other
prisoners took note of how they dealt with the situation, that tells us others
notice how we face hardships in life“the prisons were listening to
them” as they sang and praised God.
The two ministers turned to the Lord, “the prisons were listening to them”- as they sang and
praised God. This tells us, people take notice of how we handle trails and
test.
God came and answered- He responded to their
worship and praise of God.
God Moves to Deliver
When it seemed hopeless the Great God
delivered St. Paul and Silas and came to save them, God shook the earth. What
God did was to show what was true, that He was with them already.
It is when things seem the worst that God can
come to the inner prison of our trails and test and shake the earth its self
and show forth His deliverance in our lives.
When we lifted up our voices and praise
God it demonstrates that He is present "God inhabits the praises of His
people" Ps: 22:3
We see here, what is acted out, in Psalm 18: Our God intervening with power as He saves
His people.
Real Freedom
The chains fell off and the doors were
open- but they did not run- they were already free this is the freedom that
comes only through Jesus Christ- this is the freedom that Jesus came to bring
us.
"He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and
recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed," Lk:4:18b
This freedom releases us from so much, we have
hope and even peace which surpasses understanding or even reason, it frees us
to glorify our Lord always.
The Jailer Converted
When the Jailer awoke, he saw what had
happened he asked the two ministers "What must I do to be saved?"
the Jailer is like those around us who are moved by how Christians can face difficult
times and are moved to ask about our faith, which sustains us in our trials. When
others see how we are handling our trails and test, God can use it to call
others to Christ.
St. Peter tells advises us to rejoice even in
hardship, for we have hope in the Son of God, remember this; that no matter how bad the circumstance is in life, it is for this
life only and will not follow us into eternity all because of Jesus, this alone
can set our hearts free to give glory to God. 1Pet: 1:6
We should praise Him out of the midst of our trails.
Jesus will come to us to strengthen us to encourage us that we can encourage
others our deliverance is in Him not circumstance and He can use us to share
the Gospel about Jesus Christ even in mid-nights of our lives.
Benediction: May we each and all give our Lord glory
even in the midst of our
hardship, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen
.jpg)
Rev.Todd Crouch, Norman, Oklahoma
No comments:
Post a Comment