Acts 16:25

New International Version

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

For Meditation

It was midnight. The sky was beautiful, and the half-moon in radiant glow hung over the skyline above the trees in my neighbor’s house. I looked for my phone to snap a picture of it, but I couldn’t find it.

Every time I faced it, as I prayer-walked around our house, my heart lifted a song of praise to our God, who painted such beautiful skies with His unequaled skillful hand. Its wonder lightened my heart to pray with joy and sing His praises. 

As I sat down to write this message, I could imagine David in the open fields with his family sheep under a splendid midnight sky, with the moon and the stars jumping at him as he sang Psalm 19 and worshipped the Lord.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands (Psa. 19:1). 

David and I could sing and praise the Lord because we stood outside in the open night and marveled at the beauty and majesty of His creation. We were unrestricted nor confined, but that was not the case for Paul and Silas (Acts 16:13-34).

Those two firebrands sang and praised the Lord at midnight when they had suffered injustice of the worst kind and got thrown into a cold dungeon with their feet in the stocks. How could they sing to the Lord in such a condition? Why should they praise the God whose work had sent them into that terrible situation? Where was Jesus when the owners of the girl they delivered by the authority of His Name seized them and had them stripped and flogged in the marketplace?

They should be angry at God, not singing and praising Him. Yet, they did just that at midnight in that cold Philippian jail. How could they do it, and how can we do the same? I believe the answer lies in the attitude of the apostles to suffering. 

Consider when the authorities persecuted the apostles for preaching Christ in Acts 5:17-42. They sat in prison, released by an angel, rearrested, flogged, threatened, and warned not to speak in the Name of Jesus again. 

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name [of Jesus] (41). 

Counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name of Jesus! That is the winning attitude of the believer.

It overflows the heart with joy and incites a hopeful encouragement to steadfastness in our walk with the Lord.  

I believe the same attitude flooded the hearts of Paul and Silas at midnight in the Philippian jail (Acts 16:41). They rejoiced and praised the Lord at midnight because God had counted them worthy to suffer for the Name of Christ.

Can we also have the same attitude as we walk with Jesus in this wicked world?

When we determine to stand for His Name, we will suffer persecution (2 Tim 3:12). In our suffering we can rejoice and praise the Lord, knowing He has counted us worthy to suffer for the Name of Jesus. Amen!