When God’s People Praise

Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Acts 16:25 (NLT)

Paul and Silas had just been stripped, beaten with rods, and then clamped in the stocks. Yet they couldn’t be silenced.

This wasn’t some mind-over-matter-so-you-forget-the-pain singing. This was heartfelt, belt-it-out singing that kept everyone in the jail awake.

Don’t forget it was almost midnight. But why sleep when you have a captive audience, right?

So instead of lamenting their fate, they sang in their shackles.

Rather than whimpering, they praised the very God who had allowed their hardship.

It’s one thing to praise God when life is good; it’s quite another to praise him when we’re going through times of pain and suffering.

Yet Paul and Silas grasped the importance of praise.

They understood that genuine, heartfelt worship shifts the focus from our sorrows to our Savior. It turns our gaze heavenward instead of selfward.

All of us, at one time or another, will experience grief and heartache.

It’s up to us to choose how we respond:

Will we shake our fist at God, or will we worship Him?

Will we pout or will we praise Him through the pain?

Just keep in mind, the world is watching.

God did not leave Paul and Silas in that prison. He sent an earthquake that not only shook up the jail but caused a complete upheaval in the jailer’s life and family.

Because deep-rooted, heartfelt worship will not leave us unchanged.

It will impact not only our hearts but the hearts of those who have witnessed what transpires when God’s people praise.