A Devotional

 

...And The Prisoners Were Listening To Them. 

Paul and Silas were just trying to make their way to the place of prayer in Philippi. “These men are  bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!” The slave-girl shouted  the words repeatedly, hounding their steps and drawing unwanted and negative attention to them. It was clear  that a demon of divination held her in thrall, and that her masters profited greatly from it. When Paul couldn’t  take the truth of God screamed out in the streets anymore by a demon, he cast it out and her masters dragged  Paul and Silas before the Roman authorities. Not bothering to check the truth, they assumed Paul and Silas were  Jews and claimed the men were disrupting the city with new religious practices.  

“The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to  order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison,  commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the  inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.” Acts 16:22-24 

Typically, Jews were limited to 40 lashes, but the men were beaten with rods “many times” and thrown in  jail. Not only thrown into prison, but the jailor put them in the inner prison, which is the dungeon reserved for  those who are condemned, and also puts their feet into the stocks, another form of punishment. So there the men  sat in pain from a severe beating, their feet bound in stocks, among the condemned in a literal pit of  despair. What did they do at that lonely hour of midnight? Scripture says they were praying and singing hymns  of praise to God and that the prisoners were listening to them. They were not singing softly to themselves, but so  loudly that the other prisoners all around could hear, and they did this through the night.  

“And suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and  immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer awoke and saw  the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had  escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!’ And he called  for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them  out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you  and your household.’ And they spoke the Word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And  he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all  his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having  believed in God with his whole household.” Acts 16:26-34 

Paul and Silas later leave the prison, but not after insisting that it be done in public and not in secret, because it  is true that the Romans were watching, and it was important for the growth of the Gospel that the truth be  known. The world is watching right now also, just as the prisoners were listening that night. How we react  when we are thrown into our pits of despair is also important. Do we sing praises to God? Call out to Him in  prayer like Paul and Silas in voices that reverberate despite our pain? Do we reach out in love to our jailors  who are human and fearful too and tell them about the love of Christ Jesus who bore the ultimate pain of the  world for us? 

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance  produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has  been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

 ~Submitted by Rachel Linkswiler