SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/27/2018 10:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 Praise
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
16:25-29
Message of the verses: “25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!" 29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.”
I stated in our last SD that I wanted to continue looking
at joy and so I once again want to quote from MacArthur’s commentary:
“The key to having joy in
every circumstance of life is to be filled with the Spirit. Joy is a part of the fruit of the Spirit
(Gal. 5:22), and yielding to His control produces songs of joy (Eph. 5:18-19). The problem with sad, miserable Christians is not their circumstances
but the lack of living a Spirit-controlled life.
“Paul and Silas’s reaction
underscores another vitally important truth in living the Christian life: How Christians live is directly related to their concept of God. No one expressed the truth more clearly than
A. W. Tozer:
‘What comes into our minds
when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
‘The history of mankind
will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s
spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been
greater than its idea of God…
‘A right conception of God
is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as
well. It is to worship what the
foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole
structure must sooner or later collapse.
I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in
applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and
ignoble thoughts about God. (The Knowledge of the Holy).’”
I have to say that I have read “The Knowledge of the
Holy” a couple of times and it is such a wonderful book, as it speaks to the
attributes of God. One cannot worship
God in the right way without understanding who He is, and to know who He is can
only be found by studying His attributes.
Now as we think about Paul and Silas we must understand
that they did not base their theology on their circumstances. What they did instead was they evaluated those very circumstances in
light of what they knew to be true about God. We have to believe that both of them knew God
very well as they knew Him by understanding His attributes. As they sang their songs they expressed
confident trust that the God they were serving would use those very
circumstances for their good and also for His glory (Rom. 8:28). Paul and Silas did not have to wait long for
God to act.
What happened? “Suddenly there came a great earthquake,
so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all
the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.” We remember from studying Acts 12 that while
Peter was in prison that an angel came an unlocked the doors, doors that
everyone though were safe to keep their prisoners in, and so we see that Paul
and Silas were put into the inter part of this prison house with their feet in
stocks, seemingly safe, but when God wants to act He will do what He wants to
do. My thoughts were that Paul and Silas
were not really praying for God to let them free by an earthquake, but He
did. Perhaps they were not thinking that
God was about to save many people in that prison, but He did. Paul and Silas were worshiping the God they
knew and the God they knew did all of this because He chose to do it.
We have this prison house and probably next to it was where the jailer lived and so the earthquake jolted his house too, which woke him up, and of course he was startled thinking that all of the prisoners would escape and he would be killed. He rushes into the prison and is about to take his life, but Paul stops him. “27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!’”
The jailer knew that if a Roman soldier allowed a
prisoner to escape that he would be killed and so he decided to kill
himself. This was what is called a
permanent solution to a temporary problem, but I guess he did not want to face
what this problem was going to do to him.
Paul stops him from killing himself and this temporary problem he faced
turned out to be the best day of his life as we will see in our up-coming SD.
“29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling
with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.”
John MacArthur writes “The tables were turned, and the jailer fell to
his knees before his prisoners. He was
no doubt aware of the message Paul and Silas had preached, and he regarded the
earthquake a supernatural confirmation that they spoke the truth. That supernatural confirmation of the
preachers and their message led the jailer to view them as speaking divine
truth and to seek the salvation they offered.
As in the case of Paul (cf. Acts 9:1 ff.) it took a striking
manifestation of God’s power to bring the jailer to his knees. His defenses had been stripped away, and his
heart was now opened to respond to the preaching of the gospel.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am thankful to
this teaching from the Word of God on joy.
I am beginning to understand more and more about what it is and am
eagerly ready to learn and practice more joy in my life. God is able to change me in order to use me for
His glory.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting the forgiveness that God gives me
each and every day.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Ten” (Luke 19:16).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘What will you give
me, and I will deliver Him to you’?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/27/2018 11:31 AM
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