Acts 16:20-24

Hello everyone! Well...hello at least to the one or two people who may be reading this (which includes me and maybe my wife!). Since beginning this blog I have not posted anything and so this is my very first post that relates to the purpose for which I even started the blog! :)

At any rate, the following is an excerpt from the lessson in last Sunday's class. I attend church at a local Southern Baptist church and attend a class named the Pacesetters. Our class varies in size from a handful to 20 something, depending on the week and on how faithful to Bible study people are feeling! j/k!!

The text from which the following is taken is Acts 16:20-24

Having been chastised by a man of God, the demon leaves the young lady...and of course as we see, this infuriates her masters who see their profits sinking away! So as we read the verses and see Paul and Silas taken away before the magistrates. Here is what I want us to focus on. I think we can all agree that they were not merely gently escorted before the magistates...far from it! Likely they were dragged, spit upon, kicked, punched...they were degraded as they were taken by force.

Imagine that if you will, having been dragged before the magistrates their clothes are ripped off of them...they are then beaten with rods. Whether they were also whipped or whether the whipping refers to the rods I do not know...but let us assume they were beaten with rods and whipped as well. How long were they whipped? Well tradition demanded 39 lashes so let us assume this is what was done to them. What now? They are put into stocks in the deepest part of the dungeon, where the stink was the greatest and the air the most putrid. For what was all of this done to them? Because they cast out a demon from a possessed woman.

Now imagine yourself experiencing this. All of the above happens to you. In serving the Lord you are dragged, beaten, whipped, and put in stocks.

How would we respond?

Note what the Word tells us about these men..."[b]ut at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God..." (Acts 16:25)

Paul and Silas do NOT scream out against God...asking "why?"
Paul and Silas do NOT ask God how He could permit this to happen to them!
Paul and Silas do NOT turn their backs on God

No...they prayed and sang hymns to God.

Think about it: we also pray and sing hymns to God don't we? So what's the difference? When do we do these things?

Because Paul and Silas did not do this early in the morning after a restful sleep and wearing their Sunday best...

They did not do this surrounded by friends and family and others who believed exactly as they did...

They prayed and sang hymns to God after having endured a terrible ordeal...in the midst of a terrible order (for remember they are still in prison).

So the question is this:
When was the last time we were beaten with rods and whipped?
When was the last time we were dragged through the streets?
When was the last time we were placed in stocks in the deepest part of a prison?

If we look closely into our own hearts, can we say that in the trials we have been permitted to endure...that we prayed and sang hymns to God?

There is more though...for note the last part of verse 25..."and the prisoners were listenting to them."

Brothers and sisters, rest assured that our unsaved friends, neighbors, and family members are watching us closely...and watching us so much more carefully in the midst of our trials and tribulations!

What will they see? What will they hear?

If we are of the faith and profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives then what they should see and what they should hear are prayers and singing of hymns and worship of God! Praise Him regardless of our circumstances because He is our God and is worthy of our praise!

Remember at all times that those outside the faith are listening...let us live in such a way that whatever our circumstances, whatever our lot in life, that those around us will hear us "praying and singing hymns to God..."

Amen?

Amen!!