Acts 16:29-30

New International Version (NIV)

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

For Meditation

All he knew was the distress call from Macedonia and his response. I don’t think Paul expected the people’s reaction to his kind act towards the slave girl at Philippi (Acts 16:16-24). However, it landed him in jail with Silas. Paul had a file for it. It was labeled, “Suffering for the Name of Jesus (SNJ).” That was the condition Jesus gave for his call to apostleship (9:16), and he had experienced lots of it on the first missionary journey. This one too belonged to that file, and there he placed it. It called for celebration; and, what an excellent job Paul and Silas did with it! Their voices pierced heaven and may have stirred the angelic company. The other prisoners enjoyed a free ticket to the Opera in a dark dungeon. It was midnight!

An executive command was issued from God’s throne of grace, and the earth responded with a violent shaking (25).

Hurriedly, he came in with blazing lights, and trembling. How could any prisoner forgo such clemency from nature? That’s all he knew – nature and chance – completely oblivious of Calvary. But things were going to change for the jailer that night. He had an appointment with the One who ruled what he only knew as nature; yet, he did not know. “The true light that gives light to everyone” (Jn. 1:9) surrounded him like Saul of Tarsus on Damascus Road.

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

This was the question Paul had been expecting earlier in the day, but the one God was seeking was not where he delivered the slave girl. He ruled the prison of the city and enjoyed its power and significance. Ironically, the jailer did not know that he was the real prisoner for whom Christ died to set free. For that reason, Paul suffered severe flogging and the discomfort of the jailer’s world (22-24). He went into the prison, bearing the Good News of God’s mercy and grace through Christ Jesus for the jailer and his household (31-33). The road to Calvary had been traversed by Paul and Silas, and the Cross had delivered its object of God’s love.

1. So, do you want to know why Paul had to be imprisoned for doing what God asked him to do? Check the jailer’s joy (34).
2. Do you want to know why Paul prayed and sang at midnight in that dungeon? Visit 5:41 and learn.
3. Was it worth it? Hear Paul’s joy in 2 Timothy 4:7-8.
4. Can you now understand why you are suffering for obeying Jesus? Read Luke 21:12-19.
5. Do you know why you are where you are right now? It’s because of the “jailer” by you.

I pray all of us will cultivate this attitude of Paul concerning suffering in our Christian journey. It makes it easier to bear the pain and focus on Jesus (Heb. 12:2).

So: May the grace of God strength you; and may you eventually understand why God is taking you through the storm that has rocked your world.

You are where you are because God has an appointment with the person by you. So, let your light shine!

Shalom