Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” Edgar Allan Poe wrote, "Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.” I thought both of these statements were revealing, and, as I have been working with the book of Acts in Bible Bowl, I found them to reflect what I think may have happened in Acts 16.
Let me set the context in this passage. Paul is traveling with Silas and they are preaching and teaching Jesus as the Christ. They are in Philippi, a leading city of Macedonia, and meet Lydia and her family. It is a wonderful time of teaching and many come to the Lord. I imagine it to be a sweet, encouraging time. However, as they continue in Philippi, they encounter a slave girl that is demon-possessed. Throughout the time they are in Philippi, Paul and Silas encounter this girl and her "captor." Paul becomes greatly annoyed at this situation and commands the demon to leave this girl. The demon is rebuked and leaves and with him goes the girl's ability to make money for her owners. They are outraged. They haul Paul and Silas before the authorities and accuse them of stirring up trouble. The crowds turn against them and the magistrates order them to be beaten and imprisoned. Then we see verse 25. "But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them"(NKJV). I want to pause the story there for a moment. I went back and read that again. What began as a good trip to Philippi, turned ugly quickly. Paul and Silas are beaten and jailed. It has to be a miserable experience, but what are they doing? Praying and singing hymns to God.
That was humbling to me and I thought it might be a challenge for all of us. Adversity comes in many ways and takes different shapes. Things may be going great, but we all know that tough times will also come. The fact that we are Christians does not prevent us from going through the challenges of life. The question is how do we respond when things get hard? I suppose there are all kinds of ways we can answer that. One of the first that comes to my mind is to whine about how unfair it is to have to endure whatever it is that challenges me at the moment. Another response might be to throw up my hands in frustration and despair and give up. I think it is possible, too, to get angry at God and allow hurt and bitterness to build up in my soul. Maybe you're familiar with these responses, too. Perhaps there are other ones just as ineffective. The challenge is for us to praise him in the darkness, uncertainty and chains. Will I be able to see beyond the suffering to glimpse the savior? Will I be able to praise in the presence of problems? Will I worship in the face of worry?
The rest of the story? God delivered Paul and Silas and the message of Jesus Christ continued to spread and touch hearts and lives. God uses all kinds of circumstances to deliver his message. Our challenge is to have an attitude of praise. Thanks for reading...
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