![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/praying-child-245x300.jpg\")
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken …<\/em> ” That scripture was taken from Acts 16:25-26. We recall that Paul and Silas were on their way to a place of prayer when Paul had finally “had it” with a girl who had been following them around “predicting the future.” Paul cast the evil spirit out of the girl and this made her owners angry because she had been earning them so much money. Her owners had Paul and Silas brought before the authorities and they were eventually stripped and beaten and thrown into prison.<\/p>\nMost people don’t take notice of the benefit of afflictions nor are they thankful for them: I am one of those people. Fortunately, when the affliction is over I can usually see the blessing in it even though it can sometimes be years later. Paul and Silas’ affliction brought about the conversion of the jailer and his household. Wow! Scripture also tells us that the other prisoners were listening; no telling what effect prayer and singing had on them.<\/p>\n
This brought to mind Job 35:10 “But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night …<\/em>‘” Here were Paul and Silas singing when one would most expect them to be lamenting their fate. The words in Job were spoken by Elihu when he was talking about what Job was going through at that time. We know that Job’s friends were questioning his righteousness: they felt that Job had obviously done wrong or God would not be punishing him. (We know from scriptures that this was not the case and that Job had lived righteously before God.)<\/p>\n In James 1:2-3, James says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.<\/em>” When we think that we have had all the trials we can face (or we are going through one trial that seems to be lasting forever), we can go to God in prayer thanking Him that He is in control. That’s a tough one, isn’t it? Sometimes I have gone in prayer and told God I didn’t think I could make it another minute except that I knew He was in control.<\/p>\n Afflictions are never more frightening than during the night. During the day, we have demands and activities that help to distract our thoughts. But, at night when all is quiet, it is hard to get those thoughts under control.<\/p>\n Often when we are facing affliction, we think to pray immediately; but how often do we think to sing?<\/p>\n Psalms 42:8 says “By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me- a prayer to the God of my life.<\/em>” When trials are hard and you have prayed. give it over to God realizing that truly He is in control, and sing a song. Think on these things.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Judy Chappelear Sentry Magazine, June 2002 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken … ” That scripture was taken from Acts 16:25-26. We recall that Paul…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[359,1510,573,182,188],"class_list":["post-31908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-comfort","tag-prayers","tag-singing","tag-suffering","tag-trials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18166,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-be-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":31908,"position":0},"title":"Why Be a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 58, No. 3, Jan. 16, 2009. We have to admit that there are a lot of religions in the world today. We hear a lot more about Islam than we ever have before. We see people seeking new-age solutions to their spiritual needs.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/paul_in_jai_at_philippi-251x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23248,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-singing-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":31908,"position":1},"title":"A Singing Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Brock Hartwigsen The church was prophesied in the Old Testament as a singing church. In II Samuel 22:50 and repeated in Psalms 18:49, David stated: \"Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.\" Years later the apostle Paul by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/songbook-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":91220,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/have-you-hung-up-your-harp\/","url_meta":{"origin":31908,"position":2},"title":"Have You Hung Up Your Harp?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Psalm 137 speaks about the Israelite Levites losing heart because they were now removed from their homeland and in Babylonian captivity. The reason they were taken captive physically was because they let the forces of evil captivate them in heart and remove them from God. Now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47240,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-appeal-to-his-roman-citizenship\/","url_meta":{"origin":31908,"position":3},"title":"Why Did Paul Appeal to His Roman Citizenship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Acts 16 tells us the story of Paul and Silas being arrested and imprisoned in Philippi. They sang praises while bound, others listened, and then an earthquake shaking the foundations set them free. Instead of running, Paul told the jailer, who was about to commit suicide, not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67201,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/time-to-reflect\/","url_meta":{"origin":31908,"position":4},"title":"Time to Reflect","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton If you are bored, you are not studying and thinking about the rich treasures available to be enjoyed in Christ. When Paul and Silas were in prison, do you think they had time to be bored? Reflect on what gives you purpose and drive. Do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61742,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-advantages-of-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":31908,"position":5},"title":"The Advantages of Christianity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 16:22-35 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are a lot of religions to choose from in the world, if one was inclined to go shopping for a belief, from a claim that \u201cthere is no God\u201c to \u201ceveryone is right \u2013 at least in some fashion.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So why\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31908\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}