Reading in Acts 16 this morning, I was once again challenged by the examples of Paul and Silas. Their faith was tested and proven under fire. When the heat turned up, they did not turn down on Jesus. In fact, they shone even brighter as heroes of the faith.
Peter and Silas were arrested for delivering a demon out of a slave girl. This infuriated her masters. They took their complaints to the magistrates who were all too happy to hand out punishment. A beating with rods. Imprisonment and their feet in stocks.
These two were beaten with bloodied backs exposed to filthy germ invested inner prison. Their feet were shackled in stocks. Everything about this screams discomfort. Search the scriptures and you will not find any whimpering, whining, or weeping. You will not even hear them complaining. If you listen closely, you will hear something else. You will hear them singing hymns of praise to the Lord.
We complain to God in much less adverse circumstances. It does not take much to set us off on a pity party with God. We maximize our whimpering and minimize our worship when the tough times come. We ask our why questions and make accusations that God does not care. How preposterous that God doesn't care. See John 3:16 and Romans 5:8 and then say God does not care. He forever proved He cares.
Paul and Silas were beaten and bloodied, but their faith was not broken. They sang through excruciating wounds from their torture. They endured the filth and squalor of their surroundings. They did not defend themselves. They praised in the pain. Acts 16:25 records them doing this at midnight. Things were pretty low in that moment.
What is your midnight low point? The point when nothing makes sense. Where everything you believe about God is put to the test? To what level are you willing to endure hardship for Jesus and still praise Him? Will you do it with cancer, in the tragic premature death of a family member or close friend, or financial devastation? Will you continue to worship when you have been stabbed in the back by the very people you trusted in your inner circle? Will you continue to sing joyously to the Lord in the midst of chronic illness where good days seldom come, and the agony never ceases? Will you reject bitterness when you are battered and bruised while embracing faith and hope?
Paul and Silas challenge me. I have complained and cried out unfair in much easier circumstances to my shame. It is so easy to live shortsighted. Paul and Silas were able to live and suffer with the long view of their circumstances. They knew something better awaited them on the other side of the pain at that midnight hour.
The wounds eventually healed, but the scars remained. Scars are reminders. I see the scar on my right knuckle from knocking a guy's tooth out in a fight. There is a scar on my head from having a plastic chair broken on it. I have a scar where my appendix had to be removed. I added another whopper this summer on my left leg where I fell on Enchanted Rock ripping the flesh causing a deep gash. Each scar tells a story.
Paul and Silas had scars. Those scars could have reminded them of turning on Jesus in their misery. Abandoning their faith in a crisis hour. Those scars told a far different story. A story of faith and faithfulness. A story of worship in pure sincerity few ever reach on a typical Sunday morning. Those scars testified of a love for Jesus that transcended their own personal comfort or safety. Those scars inspire me all these years later because two servants of God chose to worship rather than whine. I need God's help to follow in their example. What will we do in our midnight crisis hour? Will we quit, throw in the towel, take our hand off the plow, walk away, and turn our backs on the One who placed His back on a cross for us? What story will our scars tell whether they be physical or emotional? May it never be Lord Jesus. May it never be that we turn on you.
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