Responding to Adversity

Saturday, December 26, 2009, 6:40 a.m. – I had this chorus in my head when I awoke this morning:

Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Acts 15:22-16:40. What stood out to me was Acts 16:16-40:

Paul and Silas in Prison
16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.

19When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."

22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27The 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. 28But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"

29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The 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 family.

35When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: "Release those men." 36The jailer told Paul, "The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace."

37But Paul said to the officers: "They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out."

38The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.

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My Understanding: Though many of us have never had to face what Paul and Silas experienced at the hands of their persecutors, still we have all had circumstances in our lives that we felt were unfair or unjust or that we did not understand - situations where we were mistreated, judged unfairly, ridiculed, rejected, or misunderstood, perhaps. We have all had good days and bad days; days where things went well and days when it seemed as though nothing worked out right. We’ve had days when it seemed as though the sun was just shining down upon us while other days may have seemed as though it was dumping rain on our emotions. We’ve had days when we have been strong and have handled those irritants of life well and other days where even the smallest interruptions have caused us to become unglued. So, to some degree, at least, we should all be able to identify with Paul and Silas in their situation in which they found themselves.

This story begins with Paul and Silas being confronted with a girl who was demon-possessed. The words she was speaking were the truth, yet the passage states that she followed the apostles around “shouting.” They allowed it for a few days, but finally it troubled Paul so much that he cast the demonic spirit out of her in the name of Jesus Christ. Why he didn’t do this the first day I do not know. What appears to be true here is that, even though what she was stating was the truth, she was being controlled by a demon and the shouting most likely was a distraction to the gospel getting out. Plus, Paul and Silas were in the business of seeing people delivered, so this was part of their ministry, as well. That is what the gospel message is about – seeing people delivered from sin and from bondage to and the penalty of sin. So, what they did for her was to free her to be able to be saved and to have eternal life.

Yet, the owners of the slave girl made money off her demon-possessed predictions, so they were very angry with Paul and Silas. As a result of Paul’s kindness to this girl in seeing her set free from the power of Satan over her life, Paul and Silas faced the following. They were:

• Seized and dragged into the marketplace
• Brought before the authorities
• Falsely accused via distortion of the facts of the case
• Attacked by the crowd
• Stripped and beaten
• Severely flogged
• Thrown into prison
• Put in the inner cell with their feet fastened in the stocks

Ok, I had to put myself in their place at this point. I had to think about the things in my life to which I sometimes respond with fear, anger, frustration, and/or irritation, etc. I had to think about my responses to my life’s circumstances. I had to ask myself, “How would I respond?” Or, “How do I react?” I thought about the kinds of things and circumstances in my life that render various responses and then I examined before God those situations and reactions. I know that I don’t always respond in the right way. I know that I find it difficult, at times, to be “joyful” and to sing songs of praise when I am in difficult positions. I know that God often has to remind me to be joyful. I know that I can not always sing, “It is well with my soul” and mean it in my heart. Yet, I know that God is working in me in perfecting me in these areas and this lesson today was a great reminder of the kind of responses we should have to adversity and to difficult situations in our lives.

So, Paul and Silas were seized, dragged before the authorities, attacked by the crowd, falsely accused, stripped, beaten, thrown into prison, and had their feet fastened to the stocks, etc. What was their response? Was it anger? Was it to cry wrong treatment? Now, afterward Paul did claim his rights as a Roman citizen. Some commentators believe that Paul exercised that right at this point in order to spare the apostles further harassment and perhaps also to spare other believers mistreatment. It is unclear why he chose that moment to claim his rights as a Roman citizen. It was as though he was saying at this moment, “This far but no further.” Whatever his reasoning for waiting to claim his rights, God used the delay, I believe, in order to see the jailer and his family come to Jesus.

Paul and Silas, while in prison, prayed and sang hymns to God. If the hymn, “It is Well with My Soul” had been written then, I am certain that would have been one of the hymns that they would have sung. Their praying and their singing was a testimony to the other prisoners. And, when the earthquake opened the prison doors and they could have left, they did not. They stayed and they led the jailer and his family to faith in Jesus Christ.

What this teaches me is that we don’t always know what God is doing in our circumstances. Sometimes we want to bypass things in our lives because they are painful for us when God wants to use them as divine opportunities in other people’s lives. It also taught me that the strongest witness that I can have for Jesus Christ is how I live out my life every day. People watch us. How we respond to life’s situations is more of a witness than all the words we can teach or preach. If our lives don’t reflect what our words are saying, then we have lost, or at least diminished, our witness for Jesus.

I am not speaking here of sinless perfection. This is just presenting a challenge to me to be ever more aware of how I act and react in any and every circumstance that life brings across my path and that God permits in my life, realizing that these are opportunities for God to perfect me, to use me as a witness for him and perhaps to have a divine appointment with someone with whom God would want me to minister that I might miss if I focus more on my circumstances than I do on praising God, praying and reacting in a manner that is kind, loving, obedient and available to God for him to use me. I want to be a vessel that he can use. So, I am asking the Lord to make me aware of my responses and to allow him to change my heart responses to be in conformity with His word and His will for my life.