A Bad Day

In Acts 16, we are told the story about Paul and Silas in a prison cell in Philippi. Let me set up the story for you. Paul cast a demon out of a young lady who was a fortune-teller. Her handler doesn’t like it because when she lost the ability to tell the future, she also lost the ability to make money for him. So he has Paul and Silas arrested.

Acts 16:22-24 (NLT) says, “A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.” 

For most of us, it is difficult to identify with this situation. We have all had bad days before, but nothing like what Paul and Silas are experiencing. They were probably emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausted.

Their backs were bleeding from the beating they received. They are bruised from head to toe So physically, they are spent. They had a mob rise up against them. I'm sure that emotionally drained them. And to top it off, they are now in the dungeon of a prison with their feet in stocks.

It doesn’t get much worse than that. That’s what makes the next verse so amazing. Acts 16:25 says,  “Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.” 


How could they do it? How can they sing in such a difficult situation? They were worshipers! You can be a worshiper or you can be a complainer. Paul and Silas chose to be a worshiper. They made a pre-decision that regardless of the situation, they would worship God!

We can make that same decision as well! Paul and Silas knew a secret that we often forget...worship is based on the worthiness of God not the comfortableness of our situations.