Happy Sunday!

There’s a story in the Bible about Paul and Silas in prison. I’ll give you some backstory behind it because there’s a lot of verses to read.

Basically, Paul and Silas were imprisoned because they called a spirit out of this slave who made money for her owners by telling peoples’ fortunes. (Apparently she’d been following Paul and Silas and yelling at them—so maybe don’t do what she did.) Anyways, the owners brought Paul and Silas to the authorities and Paul and Silas were thrown in prison.

Alright, and here’s the rest of the verses for you to read: ‘The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

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.’
Acts 16:22-26 NIV

There’s more to the story, but I’ll bring that up in a minute.

So Paul and Silas are they are beaten very badly, they are (according to the verses) likely naked, and they are in prison. (Sounds pretty similar to Matthew 25.)

Their situation is not a good one. Not to mention, what they had been doing in the first place was for God—why would he let them be put in prison like this if they were doing something for him? Did they do something wrong, or was he angry at them?

Nah, he just had a different plan and Paul and Silas knew that. They chose, instead of cursing God, to worship him and praise him. Not exactly something that one would do in that situation, right? But they had time to spare and they used it wisely. And because of this, other prisoners are listening to them—so they are actually ministering to others, but in a different place than before they got arrested.

And then—look at these key words—the foundations of the prison were shaken. Foundation? Looks like the prison wasn’t built on a very good foundation. Their chains fell off and the doors were opened.

Now before I can get to the point of this pretty-long-Encouragement post, let’s read the next few verses:

‘The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.’
Acts 16:27-34 NIV

This jailer almost committed suicide because he thought that everyone had escaped—that just proves how harsh the Roman government was at the time. But Paul didn’t let the man take his life; instead he said, “Don’t harm yourself!” Paul assured the jailer that everyone was there. Again, not something that one might do in that situation. But Paul knew that that man’s life was valuable—which leads to our next point. The man was saved and became a Christian.

If Paul hadn’t been in this situation, he wouldn’t have brought this man to Christ. He had to have been in prison to a) worship God in the pain, b) witness the miracle of chains breaking, c) be a living testimony to fellow prisoners, and d) help bring this man to Christ and save his life.

Your situation does not define you, your works, or the ways that God might use you.

You can be used in a horrible situation but if you have the right mindset, you might find that this is a better situation to tend to others than the original situation was.

This can be applied to bad experiences and good experiences—and something in between as well.

Thanks for reading, I hope this was encouraging! Have a great Sunday.
~Willow