Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter May 7th
Lectionary: 292
Reading 1ACTS 16:22-34
The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and the magistrates had them stripped
and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
After inflicting many blows on them,
they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake.
About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying
and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened,
there was suddenly such a severe earthquake
that the foundations of the jail shook;
all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose.
and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
After inflicting many blows on them,
they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake.
About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying
and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened,
there was suddenly such a severe earthquake
that the foundations of the jail shook;
all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose.
When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,
thinking that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul shouted out in a loud voice,
“Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.”
He asked for a light and rushed in and,
trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.
Then he brought them out and said,
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus
and you and your household will be saved.”
So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.
thinking that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul shouted out in a loud voice,
“Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.”
He asked for a light and rushed in and,
trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.
Then he brought them out and said,
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus
and you and your household will be saved.”
So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.
He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once. He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.
Yesterdays readings of Paul and Silas being beaten, stripped, and imprisoned then singing hymns and praying to God made me really think. They were praising God so profoundly in the midst of their trials and suffering that it made the earth shake and changed the hearts of those around them so much so that the jailer actually took them into his home and bathed their wounds.
Do you think the jailer recognized God in, with, and through them and experienced God loving him through Paul and Silas? Maybe the jailer realized he was bathing the wounds of Christ in Paul and Silas.
I saw that if we can truly praise God in the midst of our suffering and situations it can set us free. It says there was a severe earthquake and it shook foundations, flew open doors and pulled the chains loose. That speaks of freedom to me!
How many times do we moan, complain and sit in our suffering and situations, angry because of them and it just continues to bring us down?
May we learn to be like Paul and Silas and praise God so profoundly in the midst of all things and situations that we live in God's freedom and be witnesses to all around us so God can love through us and change lives!
