Just Another Day in Phillippi With Paul and Silas

The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas,
and the magistrates had them stripped
and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
After inflicting many blows on them,
they threw them into prison
and instructed the jailer to guard them securely.
When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell
and secured their feet to a stake.
About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying
and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened,
there was suddenly such a severe earthquake
that the foundations of the jail shook;
all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. 
When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open,
he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,
thinking that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul shouted out in a loud voice,
"Do no harm to yourself; we are all here."
He asked for a light and rushed in and,
trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.
Then he brought them out and said,
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved."
So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.
He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds;
then he and all his family were baptized at once.
He brought them up into his house and provided a meal
and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.

Well, it was just another ordinary day in Philippi. People went about their business, there was buying and selling going on in the marketplace and Paul and Silas were beaten with rods and thrown into jail where the guard made absolutely sure that they would not get away, not on his watch anyway.  He put them in the most secure cell.  I had a friend once that described such a cell as being incarcerated at 4th and Plumb.  Meaning you were on the fourth floor, plumb in the back - as far from freedom as you could get.  That is where our heroes found themselves and they did not seem too upset about the whole thing. God had other plans for them and they just had to wait until they had a better idea of what they were. God announced the start of His plan with an earthquake that was strong enough to pop all of the cell doors open and cause the prisoner's shackles to fall off.  Of course,  Paul and Silas took the opportunity to stay right where they were.  The jailer had been stunned by the earthquake.  When he came to his senses he saw that all of the cell doors were open.  He knew that his boss would be looking to cover his...I mean doing what he could to keep himself out of trouble.  Luckily, there was a patsy close at hand and the boss would make use of the jailer for this purpose.  The jailer saw all sorts of consequences befalling him and decided that he would do the honorable thing and fall on his sword.  He was about to do this when from deep within the jail, from the lowest point, where the sun never was seen he heard Paul tell him not to do what he was planning that they were still safely under his custody.  He could not believe his ears so he went to check.  There was Paul and Silas, still in the cell even though the door was wide open and she shackles had fallen off of them.  He was amazed.  He knew the strength of those shackles and he knew that it was impossible for a prisoner to remove them himself.  He had heard what Paul and Silas were saying to the other prisoners.  They were talking about this Jesus of Nazareth.  He now believed that he owed his very life to this Jesus.  He took the two followers of Jesus to his own home and after cleaning their wounds, the jailer and his whole family were converted to The Way. 

Sometimes life will hand us a defeat and it will seem that we too are as far back in the dungeon as we can be, pinioned to the wall with shackles made of the hardest iron and we will not know what will happen next.  It is in this dark moment when we are at our weakest point that Jesus will help us find our way out of the dark, into the light and who knows what wonders will be wrought in Him doing so,  In our weakness, he shows us His strength.  When all around us we can only detect darkness, He will blaze up in light so beautiful that we will see clearly what needs to be done.  Yes, we will suffer in this world but be of good cheer for Jesus has overcome the world. 

Remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory, especially the millions of Protestants who did not believe in Purgatory so that they have no one who will pray for their souls.  Pray for the Poor Souls today.   Thank You!