I am convinced that the safest place in the world is in the center of God’s will. You will never find a place more secure than being in the center of God’s will for your life. At the same time, I am also convinced that in the center of God’s will; though it is the safest place, it is not always the most pleasant and pain free place.
Many of us have been seduced into believing that as long as our lives are being lived within the will of God, that everything is going to be alright. But I’ve found that not to be so. In fact, what I’ve discovered is that God is far more concerned about making us Holy than He is in making us happy. And I think that we ought to see that in this scene in Acts chapter 16.
When we look at this scripture, we will discover that there is a connection between Paul’s vision in Troas and his visit to Philippi. There is a connection between his vision and his visit. And when you get a chance you should read all of chapter 16.
You see, at Troas, Paul has a vision of a ‘man from Macedonia’ crying, come over into Macedonia and help us.
And the Bible said that they assuredly gathered that the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel in Europe. Now no sooner than they arrive in Macedonia, a woman by the name of Lydia is converted. And the Bible says that this young girl begins to follow Paul and Silas everyday as they made their way to the house of prayer. She’s following them and Luke says that she was a fortune-teller. As she follows Paul and Silas daily, she is noted for saying that these are servants of the most-high God. She had the right message; but Paul was concern was that it was coming from the wrong source.
The Bible says that it vexed him in his spirit. And one day he turned to her and said to her, unclean spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ come out of her!” And the Bible says that she was delivered that same hour.
Now her masters, her owners or just let me make it plain those that were profiting from her, when they saw that Paul had brought an end to their meal ticket; the Bible says that they captured Paul and Silas and brought them before the magistrate on trumped-up charges.
And the Word says that they were beaten and thrown in jail. And I believe that it is the Lord’s way of reminding us that we must remember that when you get delivered, not everybody is not going to be happy about it. That is when the Lord delivers you, and when God sets you free, and when the Lord has delivered you from something that has been holding you in bondage, everybody is not going to get excited about your deliverance. The scripture teaches us that they were beaten, bloody, and broken lying in a Philippian jail.
And Luke says, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God.” Have you ever wondered, what is so special about midnight?
Something must really be important about the midnight hour because Wilson Pickett said, “I’m gonna wait until the midnight hour.” Maria Mulduar spent her midnights at the oasis. And we know that Gladys Knight take the midnight train to Georgia.
What makes midnight so special? Somebody said that midnight is a strange hour, because it seems like at midnight is when the party really gets started, at midnight is when the witches begin to brew, at midnight is when the hounds start hollowing, the owls start hooting, dogs are barking. It is said that at midnight is the witching hour, but I’m here to beg the difference. Because what we will see is that God has a great move going on here at midnight.
Although midnight is the darkest part of the night. It is the deepest part of the night. It’s night but yet it’s day and it’s day but yet it’s night, and one second after midnight is a brand new day; in fact it is officially morning.
That tell me that no matter what you are going through that if you can just hold on for minute everything will be alright. Because the bible says, that weeping may endure but I night but joy cometh in the morning.
Paul and Silas find themselves beaten, and bloody, and broken but at midnight, but I notice that they’re not whining and crying. Luke says that while they are in their midnight crisis, instead of crying and complaining about their situation, they began praying and singing praises unto God.
And that’s where we have too in life. When we find our backs up against a wall we’ve got to stop crying, kicking and screaming like a little baby and start praising God for what he is about to do.
Because any of us who have lived any time at all knows, what it means and how it feels to have a midnight crisis in our lives. Those times when we find ourselves in situations that are beyond our control. We find ourselves caught up in things we cannot handle on our own.
And we all have been faced with some midnight experience! Be it sickness, suffering or sorrow. Be it troubles, trials, or tribulations; we’ve all had our midnights! Not only have we had our midnight crisis, but we’ve shared in the midnights of other people. We know how it feels to be there with others when they are experiencing their midnights.
Now if you haven’t ever faced, nor experienced midnight, I dare you to keep going to bed at night and keep getting up in the morning. And let me throw this in, everyone on the live, this morning, and that is, you are either in a midnight experience, on their way out of a midnight, or heading to one.
Because we all will be faced with some midnights. And it’s okay, because what you have to understand is that your midnights will make you stronger in your midday.
Now there is one other thing that I must remind you about midnights; and that is that at the midnight hour often times God does some of his best work when we think it’s too late. When we’ve given it all up as a lost, God has a way of showing up.
Now Paul and Silas were aware of that; and so, standing firm in their faith, Luke says that they prayed and sang praises unto God.
Now it does not surprise us that they prayed at midnight. In fact, I would’ve been surprised if they had not prayed at midnight.
Because those of us who have had to face a midnight, knows that in a midnight hour of crisis is a time of prayer. If you haven’t prayed in a long time, you’ll pray when you are faced with midnight. When you think that you don’t know how to pray, you’ll learn how to pray when you are faced with midnight. So, it does not surprise me that they prayed at midnight. What’s remarkable is that Luke says, not only did they pray but that they sang praises unto God.
It’s one thing to pray at midnight. It’s another thing to be able to PRAISE at midnight. See most of us don’t have any problem praying at midnight; our problem is, we haven’t learned how to Praise God, at midnight! It’s easy to praise God in pleasant circumstances. When the sun is shining, and all is well in your life. Oh, it’s not difficult to shout ‘hallelujah’ and say, ‘the Lord will make a way,’ when all your bills are paid. It’s not difficult to be able to throw your hands up and say, ‘I bless the Lord at all times and his praises shall continually be in my mouth, it’s not hard when you have a reasonable portion of health and strength, and when it is well with you and yours. But when it gets dark where are we then. So, Luke says, they praised God at midnight; they sang praises unto God.
I have looked at this passage several times over the years and it did not occur to me until this week that when you think about this passage; that Paul and Silas, hearing the Macedonian call, to leave Troas and come to Macedonia to Europe so that they are bring the Gospel into Europe for the very first time. And no sooner that they arrive, they are beaten and thrown into jail and at midnight they prayed and sang praises unto God. The Lord reminded me that this was the first Gospel Concert in Europe and didn’t take place in a concert hall. It didn’t happen in a church or a chapel. But it happened in a Philippian jail. Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God.
Now, as I was doing the exegetical analysis on this passage of scripture a few questions came to mind.
Q. The first question is how were they able to sing at midnight?
A. They were able to sing because they were assured that their God was able to deliver them.
Q. But how do you praise God at midnight? These men, their backs are bruised, broken, and bloody. And they were not cursing. They’re not singing the blues, but they are singing praises unto God.
A. They were able to sing praises because Paul turned his pain into a pulpit. And only FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ will enable you to turn your pain into a praise. And maybe I ought to raise the question this morning; what kind of sermons do you preach from your scars? When life has bruised you? When life has bloodied you? When life has broken you? What kind of sermons do you preach then?
Because it’s easy to preach a good sermon when everything is alright. But what kind of sermons do you preach after life has scared you?
They were able to praise God. They were able to have joy. Because their joy was not based on their circumstances; but their joy was in the Lord Jesus. And that’s because Paul was not living under his circumstances, he was living ABOVE his circumstances. And I want you to know that if your joy is in the Lord Jesus, you can have joy despite everything that is going on around you. That’s why we say, “This joy I have the world didn’t give and the world can’t take it away”
Yes, you need a prayer for the midnight hour, but you also need a song that will pierce the darkness. So, in that dark, damp, dungeon they prayed and sang praises unto God.
When you think about it, some of the sweetest songs of the Christian faith were composed in the darkness. Fannie Crosby came down with a fever one day that left her completely blind. But she later testified that with the loss of physical sight and moving around in darkness, God turned a light on in her soul. While she was in darkness, she sat down one day, and she penned the words: “Blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a fore taste of glory divine. I’m an Heir of salvation. I’ve been purchased of God. Born in His spirit and washed in His blood.” Then she penned these words: “Jesus keep me near the cross.” Why? Because she learned how to sing in her darkness.
So, noticed that while they are in their darkness, they didn’t escape from the prison, but their faith allowed them to escape within the prison. And when you’ve got faith in God, you don’t have to escape out of everything. You can learn to escape in the midst of some things. That’s the blessing of the believer. That’s the blessing that the Child of God has. Without pills to pick them up. Without any alcohol to drown their troubles away. Without a party, or a television set, or a radio you can escaped in the midst of the prison.
And what the Lord is saying to you today is that He is not going to remove all the pain out of your life. There are times when you can’t escape from your pain, but if you trust in the Lord. If you stand firm in your faith. You can learn to escape in your pain.
You can learn how to have joy in sorrow. Hope in the midst of despair. Light in the midst of your darkness. You may not be able to escape from it, but God, by faith can allow you to escape in the midst of it.
Which leads me to my next question, what songs do you sing?
Would you sing precious Lord take my hand or would you sing I need thee every hour, maybe you might sing pass me not oh gentle savior, or you just might sing father I stretch my hands thee no other help I know.
At midnight, they prayed and sing praises unto God and Luke says, and the prisoners heard them, which says that they had an unseen audience. They were singing for their own comfort, but they were unaware that the other prisoners were listening.
Which says to us, that all of us must be aware that we have an unseen audience on the other side of the wall.
The Word says that the prisoners heard them.
And Luke says, “And suddenly, there was a great earthquake.” Luke says that God shook the foundation of the jail until all of the doors burst wide open. And every man’s chains fell off.
What made it a great earthquake was not the doors and the chains falling off. What made it a great earthquake is that the prisoners were released and yet restrained. The doors opened. The chains fell off. But, what made it a great earthquake is because the Lord was in it.
So, I heard the jailer just thought that after the earthquake everybody had escaped when he saw the doors open. So, he drew his sword to take his own life. Because the price and penalty for losing a prisoner was that your life must be taken. And rather than going through all the drama, he decided to kill himself. But to his surprise, Paul says, “do thyself no harm; we are all here.” And it was at that time that the jailer realized that there was a greater power at work in that jail house. He knew that there was something a stir in there. He knew that there was something much greater than the earthquake that shook the jail house.
It was greater power that kept every man in his cell. And the jailer cried out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
What an earthquake. An earthquake that not only shook the jail house; but more importantly, it shook the jailer.
So, my final question is, what else is God going to have to shake up in your life to get your attention? What earthquake does He have to send to your house before He gets your attention? Is it more sickness? Is it more pain? Is it more suffering? It took an earthquake to get that man’s attention.
He realized that there was greater power at work. And he says, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Save from what? The earthquake was over. The trimmers had stopped. The after-shock was over. All of the prisoners were in place. Saved from what? He was literally saying to Paul and Silas, “How can a man like me, be saved?” And Paul said, “Believe! On the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shall be saved!”
So, I thank God for the midnight experiences that I have had because it has taught me to lean on Jesus.
