Do you ever pout? Feel sorry for yourself? Think what you’re going through is unfair? You don’t deserve this, right? You were doing your best, and then something happened! It’s not fair.
Maybe you feel like Paul and Silas. The two men were serving God, doing their best, when they were arrested and falsely accused:
“Then the mob joined in the attack, and the chief magistrates ordered them beaten with rods. After they had inflicted many blows, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to keep them securely guarded. Thus, he put them in the dungeon and secured their feet in the stocks” Acts 16:22-24.
Two men serving God, and THIS is how they are treated? Beaten with pipes and thrown in prison, locked in stocks? They probably had broken bones and bruises and pains and sores all over—and they are deep in the bowels of the prison, a disgusting place fit only for rats and roaches: vermin that live on the flesh and waste of humans, living and dead.
Do you wonder whether Paul or Silas pouted? If you think their status as preachers makes a difference, think again. Are the preachers you know miraculously full of grit, and immune from self-pity?
So how did Paul and Silas react? Luke reports it as if it were the most normal thing in the world:
“About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose” Acts 16:25-26.
Did you catch that? Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns. That’s amazing. That is how we should react to adversity. Worship should be our first response, not self-pity.
Because worship really is the most normal thing in the world—and WORSHIP WHILE SUFFERING IS THE TRUEST WORSHIP POSSIBLE.
God, give us courage and faith to worship you in ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. Make us Jesus-centered, not self-centered.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 