Jump Start # 822

Acts 16:25 ^“But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them”

Our verse today sets the stage for a remarkable chain of events that leads to the teaching and conversion of a jailer in Philippi. I thought about this verse the other day. I was driving home from Indy, about a two hour drive. My beloved had a long day and was sleeping, which meant no radio. So I started silently singing hymns to myself. I’m not a good singer. Others in my family got that talent. I try. I thought about Paul and Silas singing at midnight.

There are a few thoughts for us to think about:

• Paul and Silas did not play the victim. A few verses before reveal that they had been beaten with rods. They had received “many blows.” They were taken to the inner prison, the most secure place, and their feet were shackled. It was midnight. It had been a long day. Long physically. Long emotionally. It had been a day in which they nearly died. Now, they were in the inner prison. I expect conditions back then were very harsh. Did they get any medical attention for their wounds? Did they even get a drink of water? They had done nothing wrong. They preached Jesus, the best news that anyone can hear. Yet, in this prison, they are praising God. Amazing. What about them? What about the improper treatment? What about the unfair things that had happened? What about them? Paul and Silas had a deep sense and understanding that they were servants of Christ and they were glad to do anything for the Lord. That’s been lost in today’s world.

• Paul and Silas did not lose focus with God. They are praising God, not complaining to God. They are worshipping, not asking questions. They are demonstrating faith, not a pity party. They are humble, not demanding. They are connecting to God, not distancing themselves from Him.

• Paul and Silas sang loud enough for the prisoners to hear. That thought is remarkable. It’s late, midnight. They are singing. I expect that as they started, some jeered and mocked them. Some may have shouted for them to be quiet. But they kept singing. They kept praising. The impression from the context was not that the prisoners were receiving a free concert, but that the message of the hymns connected with them. We teach through songs. Words mean things. Paul and Silas, bloodied, beaten were not despondent, depressed nor shaken in their faith. They didn’t sing silently. They didn’t sing quietly. Others heard them. Paul told the Romans that he was not ashamed of the Gospel. More than that, Paul was not ashamed of God. He would sing out loud. I expect others saw him praying. His faith wasn’t hidden. Two guys singing. I think many of us would feel uncomfortable about singing with another person even in our cars. This makes us wonder, do others hear us praising God? They may hear us complaining about the weather, the high price of gas, or the cost of college, but do they hear us praising God? How about, do they hear us praising God when things haven’t gone well for us? We see athletes praising God or pointing a finger up to Heaven after a home run or a touch down. How about after a fumble? After a loss? After being eliminated from a tournament? After being laid off from work? After a car accident? After news that you have cancer? After the journey home from the cemetery? Singing praises to God so all can hear…even after being beaten and thrown into the inner prison.

• Their singing influenced others. God caused an earthquake. The prison doors opened. Most times, the prisoners rush to freedom. This time, they remained. Paul stayed. Silas stayed. The prisoners stayed. Why? Was the singing so good, that they’d rather stay and hear some more than rush to their freedom? Like the dying Jesus upon the cross, those that witnessed it were influenced. The thief on the cross had a change of heart. A Roman soldier had a change of heart. Now, years later, men who were imprisoned for crimes, refuse to escape to their freedom. They stay. How we conduct ourselves, especially during trying times, has as great of an impact upon others as a dozen Sunday sermons. How you handle the emergency room. How you handle the job layoff. How you handle the death of a family member. How you handle abuse, whispers, being avoided. People notice. Peter mentioned the hope that they see in you. This is when hope is shown the most. After the beatings. After the prison. After the hard times. It’s easy to be a Christian on Sunday in a church building full of other Christians. It’s hard when you are sitting in a prison cell and it’s dark and late and those around you are pagans.

• They were not defeated. They had not given up. They were not finished. They would continue on. More sermons. More songs. More people. More places. If it was not a congregation, then it would be fellow prisoners. They used the opportunities God gave them. They understood the concept of blooming where you are planted. Often in life we have grand plans of what we will do and be. Those plans don’t always work out. Our Plan A is often not God’s. With that, some give up. They sing the sad song of what could have been. Have you ever noticed, driving along the highway, a tree growing out of a cliff? Often the highway was cut through rock. And there is a flower or a tree growing out of that rock. How did it get there? Did the highway workers plant it there? No. The winds of adversity or the birds dropped the seed. There was just enough soil and sunlight for it to grow. And there it grows—out of a rock. It blooms where it was planted.

The hospital room, the boss’s office, the principal’s office, at the scene of a fender bender, or even in a prison in Philippi, these may be the places where you will bloom the best. Don’t wait for the grand opportunities. Look for them everyday. A  conversation with a store clerk, the guy sitting next to you in the airplane may be God’s Plan A for you. Bloom where ever you are. Your pulpit may not be in a church building. It may be singing hymns at midnight.

Paul and Silas understood this. It helps when we do as well

Roger