Paul and Silas were victims of a severe persecution for having healed a girl who was possessed by a spirit of divination, who brought much gain to her own by foretelling (Acts16:16b). So it happened that this girl for many days caused great discomfort to Paul, until annoyed and worn out, he turned and said to the spirit within her, I change you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her! And it came out that very moment (Acts 16:18). That caused her owners to take Paul and Silas to the authorities to be beaten with rods. They struck them with many blows and threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. He, having received charge, put them into the inner prison (the dungeon) and fastened their feet in the stocks (Acts16:20-24). They were secured by the stocks, but their spirit was free to sing praises to God. Not burdened by their situation, at mid-night, they let praises to God, loud enough for the other prisoners to hear. That must have been a divine sound as if it had come from heaven, in the moment when all was calm and perhaps asleep. Heaven came down to Paul and Silas and they spread the sound for all the prisoners to hear. That, my friend, was powerful! We haven’t experienced such power in our time. Paul and Silas prayed, sang hymns of praise to God while in shackles. Imagine the state in which they were, to find the courage in faith which sustained them through their ordeal. Paul taught through the letter to the Philippians these principles: Rejoice in the Lord always, do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God (Phil. 4:4,6). This was a principal Paul observed and taught his churches. While shackled in jail, he lived what he taught through his experience. He didn’t complain but used the opportunity to spread the Gospel even when in chains. The hymns they sung were a way to show the prisoners that there was a God of love; nothing muzzled his mouth; the joy of the Lord planted in his heart spoke to all the other prisoners that the joy that comes from God provides strength even in the midst of bad circumstances.
Light from the Word 