Acts 16:16-40
New International
Version 1984 (NIV1984)
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by
which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners
by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us,
shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She
kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned
around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to
come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that
their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them
into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They
brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are
throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to
accept or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and
Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were
thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon
receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in
the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul
and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were
listening to them. 26 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. 27 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. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are
all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell
trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you
and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and
to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the
jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his
family were baptized. 34 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.
35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their
officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 36 The
jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be
released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us
publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into
prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come
themselves and escort us out.”
This was
a really long passage today but I could not break this story up! This is what I
have learned from this passage:
First of all, Paul was annoyed
and he called upon the Lord to take action.
It is always best to put things in God’s hands but we must realize that
when things do not go our way, God is in control and His ways are not always
the ways that we would choose.
I am sure that Paul and Silas
really did not want to be flogged severely and thrown in prison but take note
of what they did in prison, they SANG!
If I were in their position I might have sulked and cried out to the
Lord, WHY?! Somehow I get the impression
that if I serve Him then everything will be great but that is not a realistic
view of life. Things will be great only
if I put my full trust in Him and let Him guide me even through the rough times
of life. That is what Paul and Silas exemplified
a pure since of joy even in pain.
Then the earthquake, an obvious
chance to leave the prison, a sign from God that they are freed, but no, they
stay in the prison because they are trusting that God has another plan. I have sometimes felt like I was in prison
and wanted an escape path, have you? I was
different from Paul and Silas though because I looked for the escape and maybe
even made the escape on my own power rather than waiting on the Lord and
depending on Him to see me through. They
remained though and because of their faithfulness, the guard was not only
spared his life, he was given the opportunity to have eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Not only him, but
also his entire household. I think that
is so amazing! Sometimes when we are in
prison we start looking for the escape path when maybe it is not time for us to
escape. Rather we should be looking for
opportunities to share the Gospel in hopes that God will use us to spread His
Good News.
I think the ending is rather
funny. Paul and Silas are then told they can leave and they say, no! We are not leaving unless these men come and
face us themselves because they were wrong in punishing us without a
trial! When they were finally released
they were told to leave the city, but no, they had one more stop to make! They went to the home of Lydia, remember her? She was the woman with influence who was
baptized, her and her household. They
knew they would find their brothers in Christ there and went to encourage them. Now if I had just gone through a flogging and
imprisonment I would have been the one needing encouragement! Yet Paul and Silas allowed the Lord to guide
them through this difficult time, they didn’t turn their backs on Him but
rather praised Him through their trial.
Because of that, they were able to encourage others. Now that is a lesson that I need to
learn!!!!!
As you seek Him today, remember
that He is the one in control, His plans are better than anything we could ever
imagine and we need to hold near to the joy that only He can give us.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment