Complaint or Praise?

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25

If you read today’s verse by itself, you would probably think that Paul & Silas were putting on a service at the local jail, sharing Christ with the convicts. The reality was that in the process of planting a church in the city of Philippi, some of the entrepreneurs got upset because it was affecting their livelihood and had them arrested. Paul & Silas weren’t there to visit the prisoners–they were prisoners! (Side note–Roman era prisons were pretty rough: damp stone floors, no beds or facilities and often, inmates were chained to prison guards.)

In the middle of this hardship, Paul & Silas were praying and singing. And notice–the other prisoners were listening. Now, I’m sure they’d rather have been sleeping in preparation for another day of preaching the Gospel in town. No doubt they were discouraged at this turn of events. Getting arrested certainly doesn’t seem like an effective church planting strategy! Yet, later we read that the jailer and his entire family came to Christ as a result of their testimony.

Instead of complaining, they turned their hearts to praise. You see, the opposite of complaining is not silence, but worship. How often our hearts, in the midst of difficulty, naturally turn to complaint. But what if, instead of complaining, we thanked God for His blessings to us? Even in suffering, we have much to be thankful for. Perhaps those around us will be prompted to ask why we’re responding in that way, like the jailer did of Paul & Silas. I think that’s why Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God.”

-Pastor Mike