The Midnight Hour

"But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises to God..."  (Acts 16:25)

This account of Paul and Silas has always stirred my heart, and has again today challenged me to really examine my heart and the depth of my own faith.

In the previous verses in Acts chapter 16, we see that Paul and his friend Silas had been taken prisoner by a mob of people who wanted them killed.  They were severely beaten with rods and cast into a dark, dirty prison cell, and their feet were fastened into stocks, so that there was no possibility of escape.  Battered, bruised and bleeding, they were in all likelihood, going to be executed soon. 

Their situation looked pretty hopeless.

And yet, here they were—at midnight—praying and singing praises to God.

What is it that could motivate bleeding, hurting, imprisoned men—to sing hymns of praise to God in their darkest hour, when all must certainly have appeared to be lost?

Their hope, trust and joy was fully in the Lord.

If anyone had cause to groan about their dire circumstances, it was Paul and Silas in this hellish prison.

But they instead chose to praise God.  The biblical word here for praise, also translated as "hymn" in some bible versions, literally means to "celebrate God in song—to sing a hymn of praise to Him." 

The "Dark Night of the Soul" is the title of a poem written by 16th-century poet, St. John of the Cross. His poem "Narrates the journey of the soul from its bodily home to its union with God. The journey occurs during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties the soul meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator. Rather than resulting in permanent devastation, the dark night is regarded as a blessing in disguise, whereby the individual is stripped (in the dark night of the senses) of the spiritual ecstasy associated with acts of virtue. Although the individual may for a time seem to outwardly decline in his practices of virtue, in reality he becomes more virtuous, as he is being virtuous less for the spiritual rewards obtained and more out of a true love for God."

Perhaps, like Paul and Silas did, you too are experiencing a season in your life that could accurately be described as the dark night of the soul.

Their powerful secret was—Paul and Silas were already free in their souls because God was with them. He never leaves us or forsakes us because He indwells our hearts. This is why they were able to turn and thank God and praise Him—in spite of whether their desperate and hopeless circumstances changed, or not.

We are to praise God because He is worthy of our praise—not because we want something from Him. Paul and Silas were not singing hymns to God to obtain a "get out of jail free" card.

They were singing out of a true love for God—out of sincere hearts that were thankful to God because He loved them. He had already demonstrated His love to them by sending His Son Jesus to die on the Cross for them, and for all men.  Their love for God was not based on the condition of their temporary circumstances, but was out their relationship with God as His sons—which was a relationship purchased for them by the sacrificial blood of Christ.

The ultimate act of Love.

Paul wrote in one of his letters to his young disciple, Timothy, that in the last days, men would, among other things, be "unthankful" and "unholy."

I believe this is the cause of most Christians' depression and apathy today.  We are living such defeated lives because we are so focused on our circumstances and problems, that we have altogether forgotten what God already did for us by sending His own Son for us. 

It's like our entire existence is dominated by our circumstances—we don't have that job yet; our marriage is failing; our spouse left us; we can't afford that new car we want; the new house we have wanted is still not within our grasp; our 32 inch flat screen TV just isn't quite cutting it like our neighbors 50 inch screen would; our Internet connection is way too slow; they don't sing the songs at church the way we like; we still haven't met someone who we could end up getting married to someday; we're so unhappy at our job.

Where exactly does God fit into your life in all this?

Let us come to the place in our hearts, where we can profess to God, "Lord, even if You never do another thing for me the rest of my life, I thank You Lord for loving me and saving me—for writing my name in the Lamb's Book of Life—for setting me in Your family forever—for sending Your own Son to take my place on the Cross—thank You Lord for the free gift of salvation by Your grace."

When we as Christians gather together to fellowship with one another, our conversation should be much less about our problems and temporary circumstances, and much more about thanking and praising God—for what He has already done for us—for what He has already given us—the gift of Himself.

As Paul and Silas were singing praises of thanks to God at midnight, it says that the "prisoners were listening to them."  In verse 26 we see what happened next:

"Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed."

The spiritual application for us today is clear:  if you are bound up in chains of unthankfulness in your heart, mind and emotions—turn your heart to the Lord and thank Him and praise Him—because He is worthy of all your praise.

If your heart is hard and your faith is dying today because the circumstances in your life are difficult, or even appear hopeless as Paul's and Silas' did—the only way the foundation of your self-imposed prison of bitterness and unthankfulness can be shaken and your prison doors opened—is for you to turn from the sin of your unthankfulness, and turn to God and confess it, and then thank and praise Him for what He has already done for you.

If you have Jesus Christ and His Spirit living in you—you already have everything. 

You have been given the gift of God Himself.

I know from my own painful experiences, how hard it is to see it as a "blessing in disguise" when are experiencinng a dark night of the soul in our lives.  But the truth is, just as He did by allowing Paul and Silas to be severely beaten and thrown into a dark prison for a time, so too will God allow us to experience a dark night of the soul to bring us closer to Himself. 

So, dear friend, thank Him and then tell someone else in your life how thankful you are for all that God has given you. Your chains of ingratitude shall be loosed. 

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.