“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25
It had been a long day for Paul and Silas. Things didn’t go quite as they had hoped. It began with the fortune-telling girl taunting them again as she had the past few days. Once again she was pestering them and making their mission difficult. Finally Paul had enough and ordered the evil spirit to come out of the girl. She was relieved, but her owners were not. Now without a steady income, the girl’s owners made a scene by dragging the two apostles into the marketplace and accusing them of throwing the city into an uproar by preaching an unlawful message. The indictment was convincing, and the magistrates had them stripped, beaten, and flogged. Finally they were thrown into a cold, dark cell among a collection of the town’s vilest citizens. With their feet locked securely in iron stocks, their fate was sealed. It was a really bad day!
Bruised and hurting, Paul and Silas did what they always did. They sang hymns and prayed. The fellow prisoners overheard the commotion and marveled at the faith of the two. Never before had the walls of that dungeon heard such blessings. Although bound and fettered, Paul and Silas’ prayers and praises could not be bound. Instead of seeing their fate as desperate, they trusted in God’s purpose. The early Christian father Tertullian said, “The leg feels not the stocks when the mind is in heaven. Though the body is held fast, all things lie open in the spirit.”
We know that bad days were not exclusive to Paul and Silas. Cranky children, computer problems, and flat tires can often be just the beginning of a bad day. Even when the problems of the day weigh down our souls, we say with James, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4). The Lord assures us that when our days seem to go from bad to worse, we can come to him in prayer and he will help us. “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Ps. 34:17,18).
Remember to pray when in the midst of a bad day.
There is grace to help in our time of need,
For our Friend above is a friend, indeed;
We may cast on him every grief and care;
There is always a blessing, a blessing in prayer.
Eliza Hewitt
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