In Acts 16, we read of Paul and Silas. Here we find our heroes of the faith in prison. Earlier that day Paul became annoyed by a demon-possessed woman who had been following him for several days for she was vocal and evidently a nuisance. So when Paul reached his fill, he cast out the demon. The demon allowed the woman to foretell the future and, being a slave, the woman’s owners were making money by selling her fortune-telling services. As such, they could no longer make money as the demon was gone from her and as a result they became quite angry with Paul and Silas.
Next we see that the woman’s owners take Paul and Silas before the authorities in the marketplace and accuse them of advocating customs not acceptable to Romans. Before you know it, the crowd is jumping in against the two and the magistrates ordered them stripped naked, flogged and put into prison (vs. 22-23). I find it interesting that the scriptures do not tell us of any argument put up by Paul and Silas towards their own defense. Perhaps they remained silent, perhaps they plead their innocence or perhaps they were not even given the chance.
Close your eyes and replay the next scene in your imagination, but pretend you are in the place of Paul. Hear the accusations against you. How does it make you feel that though you came in peace with hopes of winning these lost souls for Christ they are now clamoring for your destruction?
Experience the feeling of helplessness as you are convicted and punished on the spot in a crowded market. Imagine the wooden rods coming down on your naked body, back and head as you huddle into a ball hoping to protect your vital areas. Imagine being carried off to prison because you are so beaten you cannot walk by yourself. Feel the pressure of the stocks wrap around your bruised and swollen ankles and the involuntary moans released from deep within your gut you never knew you could produce until now.
What thoughts are you thinking? What emotions are beginning to take form? Do you hate the crowd for doing this to you? Are you mad at God for letting this happen? Do you take comfort in knowing your friend is shackled beside you or do you feel a guilty responsibility for his being there as well? Are you helpless and full of despair? Are you too hurt to feel scared?
You hear your battered friend beside you attempting to get comfortable, an impossible task for the stocks leave you immobile. Through the pain and immobility you both know comfort will not come anytime soon.
Hours have past. The market was still open when this beating first took place and now it is dark nearing midnight. Paul and Silas have had time to feel and think about all I have mentioned and all you have imagined. They have been given plenty of time to come up with feelings of loneliness, hurt, anger, even hate but what happened next was not a reaction of those things.
“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” (vs. 25)
How amazingly unexpected! Paul and Silas began to praise God!
We too are called to walk like this.
Selah…
