Praising God Through the Difficulties

Acts 16: 25-26
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”

This is an amazing story, Paul and Silas had been beaten and chained in the lower dungeon. They had been testifying of Jesus Christ, that He was the Messiah that was to come. Here they sit in a filthy, stinky jail, knowing their sentence is the death sentence and yet they begin to sing.

They sang songs and prayed out loud, and the part of the story I love is, “and the other prisoners were listening to them,” they were testifying about Jesus while they were suffering. They sang and worshipped God in spite of the fact that they were arrested, charged, beaten, and chained up like animals. I believe there is a message there!

Christians today have it so easy; we can sing when we want and where we want to. We can worship how we want to and testify without fear of retribution or reprisal and most of the time we don’t want to disturb anyone.

The last part of this verse says that an earthquake shook the jail so hard that the prison doors flew open, and the chains came loose.  So, I pose this question; what can happen if we just spontaneously start praising and worshiping God? Worshipping from our hearts and love on Jesus like never before, in spite of what we are going through.

The Imperials had a song that they used to sing years ago called “Praise the Lord.” That song says in the chorus: 

Praise the Lord, He can work through those who praise Him. Praise the Lord, for our God inhabits praise! Praise the Lord, for the chains that seem to bind you, serve only to remind you, that they drop powerless behind you. When you praise Him.

Prayer:
Lord, I live in a land where I have the freedom to praise You. Help me to keep a song on my lips, a joy in my heart and praise God with my whole being, no matter what is going on around me. In Your name Lord, Amen!