Acts 16:25-34
English
Standard Version (ESV)
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were
praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and
suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison
were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds
were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the
prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,
supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried
with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And
the jailer[a] called for lights and rushed in, and
trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then
he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And
they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your
household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and
to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour
of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all
his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set
food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had
believed in God.
How do you
respond when you are facing consequence of your actions, actions that you felt
were right and just? I know as a child I
generally pouted and as an adult I do the same thing! It is very difficult for me to see any good
in a bad situation and I have to throw myself a little pity party. You know what? Everyone hears it, sees it, and is probably
annoyed by it and it does me absolutely no good whatsoever!
In contrast we
have Paul and Silas who were beaten, thrown in prison, and put in chains. They could have talked about how mistreated
they were and how they did not deserve to be in this horrible place but instead
they prayed and they sang. I have to
wonder what they were praying about but my guess is that they were praying
prayers of thanksgiving. I would not be
surprised if the were praying for the jailer and all the other prisoners. I would imagine that in their prayers they
were praying words of encouragement to those around them. They were singing too! That is something I like to do when I am down,
play the piano and sing. (Not with
others around though!) The songs they
may have been singing could have come from the scriptures. At any rate, the songs were bringing a
message of hope to those around them.
The prisoners
heard these words and I would imagine the jailer did too. Just as he was about to kill himself because
he thought he lost his prisoners, they called out to him, letting him know that none of them left. Lives were changed that day, not just the
jailer and his family but also the lives of those prisoners. They could have all left but because of the
hope they heard from Paul and Silas, they remained in the prison.
This is a lesson
in how to respond to adversity in a world full of it. We need to make sure that we are responding
with prayer, thanksgiving, and praise because others are either listening or
watching. We have to make sure that what
they see in Christ working in us not our own disappointment, shame, or even
anger.
Seek Him and
know that He is with us in all that we say and all that we do,. We need to be sharing with others this good
news whether in words, deeds, or both so that other may see Him through us.
Seeking Him with
all my heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment