The story of Paul and Barnabas in the Philippian jail is an amazing story. One of the most unusual parts of the story is that at midnight, after they had been beaten and placed in stocks in the inner prison, a place of highest security, they prayed and sang hymns of praise to God.
When we experience life’s tough blows we may pray, but do we sing praise? Our humanness would lead us to pray that God would protect, bring deliverance, get us out of this mess. The praise part may be harder to come by. Yet it is in the unusualness of this praise time that the Bible states, “the prisoners were listening to them.” What the other prisoners were hearing was not normal to their experience, but it was impactful. Both the prayer and praise time made them desire to stick around, even after the earthquake offered them the opportunity to escape. It is in the hard times that our unusual response with prayer and praise can impact others the most. Let’s not miss those opportunities. Though we don’t sign up for the trials and tests of life, waving our hand to God and saying, “Pick Me! Pick Me!”, they do come. When God entrusts us with them, let’s pull a Paul and Barnabas and rejoice in the impact we can have.
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