Praying and Singing

When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.  After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.  When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. (Acts 16: 19, 22-24)

We’ve all experienced days that we feel we’ve been put through the wringer. Perhaps you’ve been betrayed, lied about, received a bad diagnosis, lost your job or even worse a loved one. At times it feels that the flogging will never end. Then to add insult to injury you are abandoned to deal with the pain and make some sort of sense out of what just happened. That is a very dark place to be, just like the inner cell mentioned above.

I try to picture their story in my mind and see them struggling to walk in the chains that bind them. Each step a painful reminder of the beating they just endured. As they stagger into the prison it gets darker and darker as they proceed to the inner most part of the smelly dank cell that would be their home for who knows how long.

The guard roughly pulls their arms and feet to attach them to the stocks that will secure them to the cold infested wall. Seeking any sort of relief they slump down towards the filthy floor and try to rest.

I know that at that point I would have just cried and cried and cried. But around midnight, in the darkness of their cell, Paul and Silas—after surviving the severe beating—aren’t moaning and groaning; they’re praying and singing hymns to God. The prisoners in adjoining cells are wide awake, listening to them pray and sing. (The Voice)

In their moments of deepest pain, loss and anguish, they are praying and singing! What an amazing testimony! What a great reminder that others are watching our reactions to the trials we encounter and our reponse can open the door for them to know the Lord.

Paul and Silas knew where their help would come from……the Lord. They knew that in all this they could greatly rejoice, though now for a little while they would have had to suffer.  This prison and it’s chains would prove the genuineness of their faith— which was of greater worth than gold, and would result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ was revealed. 

We can know for certainty the same when we face the trials of this life.

Be Intentional about praising God in the storm.

Praises & Prayers

Father, please forgive me for moaning and groaning when I face trials of any kind. Help me to remember that You are right there with me and that because of You I have a reason to praise and sing. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Messages from His Word

Psalm 121:2

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.