1. Bad things are not always bad things.
Stop taking the wrong conclusions…
Jehosephat had 3 armies marching against him...he knew HE couldn’t win the battle...seemed like a really bad thing…but GOD wanted to give him peace on EVERY side…
Joshua had an unbeatable wall in front of him...he knew HE couldn’t take the city in his own strength…seems like a BAD THING...but GOD wanted to give him the city.
Abraham had to take his son up a mountain to sacrifice him...he knew it was the Word of the Lord...but GOD wanted to give him 6 more children before the end of his life, and generations after that!
Jonah was in the belly of a whale...God wanted to save an entire CITY, not just Jonah…but he accomplished BOTH with the whale.
God can use bad things for good, and SUCH good, that we end up looking back on the very situation we were whining about--and THANKING God for it!
2. Midnight singing & dungeon faith
NOTICE what they weren’t doing:
Belly aching
Asking why me
Trudging through just to get through…
Singing is not only for expressing our joys in a day of triumph, but for the balancing and relieving of our sorrows in a day of trouble.
This may be one of the only things that separates you from the non-Christian. How do you react when trouble comes?
If nothing else, midnight singing is TERRIFYING to the enemy!
What could scare the enemy more than you NOT being afraid of him?
Because what could possibly put them off from their mission, if a dungeon and a pair of stocks could not do it?!
3.Suddenly—WAIT FOR THE “SUDDENLY’S”
Sometimes it takes a little earth shaking, for the oppressors to be saved.
So far, I’ve been likening us to Paul & Silas in this story, that we should sing in the face of our oppressors….but maybe we’re not Paul & Silas. Maybe we’re the jailor.
4. We are citizens.
Paul knew who he was. He knew he was a citizen of Rome, AND a citizen in God’s Kingdom. That’s why he could sing in the prison, and it’s why he didn’t allow the oppressors to get away with what they did.
Christianity doesn’t mean you allow yourself to be abused all the time. You can hold people accountable when there is an injustice!