It is funny how when going through a trial and digging into God’s Word for scriptures that address our situation we often rediscover a story we may have overlooked or been a bit dismissive of in past readings.

I found this to be the case one day with the story of Paul and Silas praising in the jail and being miraculously freed of their chains at midnight.  I used to see this story and think that’s great but they were only there for a bit and ultimately they got rescued by God so ho-hum, alls well that ends well…such a gracious spiritual attitude I had, not!

The depths of this account began to be revealed to me one day when I was working on having a good focus regardless of any circumstances, emotions or feelings I may be experiencing.  This account began to jump of the page as I looked at the story from their perspective.  I realised that in the blessing that is hindsight, we who read this account see the timeline in it’s entirety, we know it ends well!

Paul and Silas on the other hand did not…they are thrown in jail, beaten and are sitting in chains fully aware that their fate is likely death and a painful, public death at that because lets face it, Christians in their day were suffering extreme physical persecution.  Their human rights were not going to be defended in a court of law; their freedom to practice a belief of their choice was not the order of the day and they were not going to be spending time in a jailhouse that resembled a comfy home away from home!

Paul and Silas are sitting in a dark, smelly, damp jail; chained and left to wrestle their thoughts and await the dawn of what would likely be their last day on earth.  That is some potential for mental anguish!

Now I know we would all like to think we would have it under control, that we would be able to trust God and be in perfect peace but let’s be realistic, most people would have been having some kind of a melt down (probably why the Lord put the account there in the first place, showing us the ‘what to do’ as opposed to the ‘what not’).

It was Paul and Silas’ faith that surfaced.  It was their constant reliance on the Holy Spirit that makes all the difference here.  It is the Spirit that leads them to praise and it is this praise that stirs their faith and brings God’s power into the situation.

They didn’t know when they began to praise if they would be there another hour or for the rest of their lives, but what they did know is that God would never leave them or forsake them.  They knew that they could praise Him for all He has done and all He would do because they served the living God of Spirit and Truth.  They kept their focus on things above and not on the things of this world; on what God said and not what their circumstances currently showed.

This story speaks so much truth into our lives; it is a vivid account of praising God through our darkest times, when the outcome looks bleak.  Our focus truly is key to our faith.  We cannot stand firm by faith when we are giving time and energy to worrying about circumstances.  Worrying is looking  at the problem and trying to work through a problem in our own strength, in our own time, our own way…this is self reliance, it is limiting the solution to the realm of standard possibilities and is not faith in God.  God is not limited by conventional methods, He didn’t need to have a person of authority decide to make a ruling to release Paul and Silas just to get them out.  God used His omnipotence to shake those chains loose!

The only decision Paul and Silas had to make was whether to go their own way and have a melt down or to give it to the Lord and relax.  Praising God when all circumstances look bleak is truly trusting the Lord to meet our need.  When we praise God we are focusing on all the He is, all that He has done and just how loving, powerful and faithful He is.  Praising God elevates our thoughts to God’s Word which is living and does not return void!  There is victory in praise and in every circumstance that we praise God through that midnight hour will come and the chains will shake loose in the mighty name of Jesus!

I no longer skim over this story but rather hold it dearly in my heart, a platform to launch from when I need to focus beyond circumstances and simply praise the Lord.

Acts 16:25-26 “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them.  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s bands were loosed!”