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Doubt 3
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Acts 19:25 NIV
This passage of scripture has always perplexed me a bit. How could they keep praying and singing in the midst of such trials?
As we have looked at the issue of doubting, which I do believe is a part of the normal Christian growth process, we saw that Peter, the great man of faith had doubts. We also saw that doubting, on its own, is not necessarily sin. It should be our goal to please God with our faith, but doubting by the believer is a normal reaction to certain circumstances of life.
The final point to this issue of doubt is seen in this 19th chapter of Acts. Paul and Silas, arrested for telling the Good News, had been severaly beaten. They were actually "flogged", which meant they were stripped of their clothes and beaten repeatedly with a whip laced with broken glass and sharp rocks. They were thrown into a jail w hich would probably not pass any sanitary rulings for today's prisons. They were shackled at the feet, and as far as they knew, they were preparing to die. Normal life appeared to be over.
How did they react? They prayed and sang hymns to God!
Fellow Christians, what this teaches me is that there is hope for me and you who doubt. Paul and Silas were at a point in their Christian maturity that regardless of how grim the situation looks, they were going to keep on praising God; keep on praying.
Are you there yet? I'm not, but I know I want to get there. May we commit more than ever to, no matter what, place our faith in the God who is worthy of all our praise! God is fully in control!
This passage of scripture has always perplexed me a bit. How could they keep praying and singing in the midst of such trials?
As we have looked at the issue of doubting, which I do believe is a part of the normal Christian growth process, we saw that Peter, the great man of faith had doubts. We also saw that doubting, on its own, is not necessarily sin. It should be our goal to please God with our faith, but doubting by the believer is a normal reaction to certain circumstances of life.
The final point to this issue of doubt is seen in this 19th chapter of Acts. Paul and Silas, arrested for telling the Good News, had been severaly beaten. They were actually "flogged", which meant they were stripped of their clothes and beaten repeatedly with a whip laced with broken glass and sharp rocks. They were thrown into a jail w hich would probably not pass any sanitary rulings for today's prisons. They were shackled at the feet, and as far as they knew, they were preparing to die. Normal life appeared to be over.
How did they react? They prayed and sang hymns to God!
Fellow Christians, what this teaches me is that there is hope for me and you who doubt. Paul and Silas were at a point in their Christian maturity that regardless of how grim the situation looks, they were going to keep on praising God; keep on praying.
Are you there yet? I'm not, but I know I want to get there. May we commit more than ever to, no matter what, place our faith in the God who is worthy of all our praise! God is fully in control!
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