Acts 16:23-31
And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely.
Having received this charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one’s fetters were unfastened.
When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Homily:
“Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.”
The above statement is totally at variance with the prevailing circumstances.
If we read that Paul and Silas were praying and wailing to God, it would have been more reflective of their prevailing circumstances.
But Paul and Silas were not caged by the times, they owned the time. They were not conditioned by external factors, they were internally conditioned to believe in God. This conditioning is independent of whether “there was a great earthquake or not”. They were conditioned to an unconditional love for God, willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for that love.
What are you going through? What are you about to go through? What have you gone through?
Have you tried praying and singing hymns to God?
You might say – I do not know how to pray and/or I do not know how to sing. That’s okay.
Have you tried listening? Listening to God, listening to His word, listening to His hymns.