Thoughts for another day

April 17, 2013.

Today's verse: Acts 16:25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further.  Thanks)

I always hold, no matter what difficulty I face, that God gives me the Grace to look up to Him in adversity.  A key strength of the Christian is the ability to thank God no matter what the situation; and God being Sovereign may choose to answer positively and give me the crumbs that should be enough to take me out of the tunnel.

In the background to the Scripture above, Paul and Silas while engaged in the Mission work were subject to beatings and imprisonment.  While in jail, at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and if you look closely at the text, you’ll notice that the prisoners heard them.  Now that’s interesting for two reasons, one, that despite the adversity they faced, Paul and Silas didn’t bend under it nor were dismayed with God, rather they turned their focus on God, Who alone had the power to save them and He did.  The second thing is that their praying and praising was so effective and contagious that the prisoners heard them.  Perhaps that’s the reason why, no one tried to escape when the earthquake struck and all the doors of the prison flew wide open.

My friend, we must know that God isn’t our enemy.  He allows adversity to come to us for the single reason that if we believe in Him and hold fast to our faith, He will show us His glory in and through the adversity in a powerful and marvelous way, which bears His stamp distinctly; and He will save us by His mighty arm.  You’ll remember that when the Israelites came out of Egypt, they came to the Red Sea.  Now before them was the Sea and behind them they could hear the sound of the Egyptian army racing toward them.   Absolute disaster one might say…but then God worked such an amazing miracle that nations all around learnt of it and respected the God of Israel.  If you are today in adversity, sing praises to God and He will rescue you.  The bigger the adversity, the bigger will be His rescue and the greater will be the glory accorded to Him.  Would you be willing to be host to His work and an instrument whereby He can display His awesome glory?