Faithfulness To God
Fergus Buchanan
June 20, 2025
Add to Favourites
Listen to this daily worship
Acts 16: 16-35 (NIVUK)
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She 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.’ 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned round 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.
19 When her owners realised that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, ‘These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practise.’
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The 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. 28 But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!’
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’
31 They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.’ 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptised. 34 The 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 household.
35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: ‘Release those men.’
Paul and Silas had a rough time in Philippi. They were arrested on a trumped-up charge. It was said by a group who had taken against them that they were disturbing the peace and that they were inciting people to disobey Roman customs (Philippi was a Greek city but was part of the Roman Empire). They were stripped, beaten with rods, flogged and thrown into prison where their feet were fastened into stocks.
By no stretch of the imagination were these circumstances that anyone would seek far less enjoy. Yet in the darkness of the prison Paul and Silas were heard to pray and to sing hymns. They would be in pain, probably hungry and thirsty, certainly deprived of freedom, and yet their minds were firmly fixed on their God. Theirs was not just a God of the good times but One who had revealed Himself in the suffering of His Son and was present for His people in their pain.
We make an important breakthrough in our Christian lives when we realise this. Whatever our pain or distress we will not be separated from the love of God which he has shown in Jesus. Our Christian integrity depends on our faithfulness to God in all circumstances as He is faithful to us. Paul and Silas pushed themselves through their worst of times by singing hymns and praying. In the end they were delivered from their ordeal. That may not fall to us in such a dramatic way but there is blessing to be found in the God who never leaves us or forsakes us. And in keeping company with Him we find strength and comfort and peace. Paul wrote:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8: 28)
Prayer:
God our Father,
We recognise that our lives have downs as well as ups, darkness as well as light, pain as well as pleasure. We cannot always be sure where we will find ourselves in our experience of life. But we have your promises, we have seen the pattern of Jesus’ life, and we pray that no matter what our circumstances we will be faithful to You, the God who never abandons His people despite their downs, their darkness, their pain. Amen.
Login to comment.