Late Nite With Paul & Silas

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” Acts 16:25

Some stories never grow old, and no matter how many times I read about Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, I’m amazed all over again.  Amazed at God.  Amazed at them.  Just amazed.

Throughout history, men have often faced certain punishment and possible death with undaunted courage and resolved calmness, but they usually didn’t sing.  They didn’t sing unless the One of whom and to whom they sang was so spectacular and so sovereign that He was worthy of all they could give—even their very lives.  Then, they could sing, and they did.  “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God”(Acts 16:25).

Be amazed.  Paul and Silas could have been crying out in pain, for they had been severely flogged(Acts 16:23). They could have been complaining about injustice because the charges against them were malicious lies(Acts 16:20-21).  They could have been screaming for their rights, for as Roman citizens, they were entitled to a fair trial before being stripped and beaten(Acts 16:22).  They could have been groaning in despair because all they had done was free a girl from an evil spirit and now they were fastened in stocks(Acts 16:24).  Paul and Silas could have done many things to fill the dark hours of the long, hard night, but they chose to pray and praise.  “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God”(Acts 16:25).

Be amazed—like their fellow prisoners surely were as the unexpected late-night concert brought comfort and hope to desperate hearts.  Be amazed that the prison walls couldn’t contain their song, and that at its strains, Heaven reached down to shake 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 16:26).  Certain that the prisoners had escaped and that he would be executed, the jailer drew his sword to end his life, but Paul’s call stopped him short.  Amazed, he fell trembling before them and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”(Acts 16:30).  “Only believe,” they replied, so he did (and his family too).  Right then, “at that hour of the night,” the jailer washed their wounds with water, and they baptized him with water.  He brought them into his house and fed them, and “he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in Jesus—he and his whole family”(Acts 16:34).

Be amazed.  The jailer would never have known Jesus if Paul and Silas hadn’t ended up in prison, and Paul and Silas would never have ended up in prison if they hadn’t been arrested.  Be amazed that our God is totally in control.  Be amazed that He orchestrates our circumstances for His purposes.  Be amazed that we can sing praise in the middle of the mess.  And be amazed that God can move the earth to change hearts.

Even if it takes your pain and injustice to bring others to Jesus, keep singing.  God will shake the world to save His own.  And that story never grows old.