Praying in the Darkness

When you obey God, everything is supposed to work out beautifully and you should be able to enjoy a happy ending, right?  What if you obey God and you are rewarded with a trip to a dark prison cell.  That is, after a crowd has ganged up to beat you and the officials tore up your clothes.  You are in consuming pain and the stocks on your feet are fastened too tight.  The catch is, there is no fancy lawyer to get you released.  You are stuck and your fate lies in the hands of someone who is currently upset with you.  What do you do?  When midnight strikes, what are you doing?  Have you long since fallen alseep?  Is your pillow wet with tears?  Do you gaze into the darkness filled with bitterness and anger?

For Paul and Silas, we do not have to speculate.  We know what they were doing in those circumstances at the stroke of midnight.  In Acts 16:25 it says that they "were praying and singing hymns to God."  I have to wonder what they were praying about?  Well, I'm not sure they were praying for their freedom (as I'm sure I would have been).  How do I know this?  because when prison doors are miraculously thrown open and their chains loosened, they don't go anywhere.  Whatever they were praying about, we may be able to assume from the verse that the subject brought them to a point of spontaneous praise and worship.  Somewhere in the darkness were two men so focused on the glory of God in the midst of their circumstances, they could not help but lift their hearts in praise before the Lord. 

We all face darkness, don't we?  Maybe not as literal as Paul and Silas, but it is darkness none the less.  Maybe your bank account is leaving you begging for freedom from your financial woes.  Maybe something a co-worker said or did to you has left you gazing into the darkness filled with bitterness and anger.  Maybe a fight with your spouse has left you weeping into your pillow.  What do you do in that darkness?  Can you pray and sing hymns to God?

Maybe you say, "No way!"  After all, don't we tend to pray and worship God when we feel like it?  And who feels like doing those things when we are in the darkness?  Read through the Psalms and take note of the "calls to worship."  Over and over we read, "shout to the Lord," or "Sing praise to Him," or "Magnify the Lord."  But in the midst of those commands, we never see a disclaimer.  In other words, "If you feel like, praise the Lord."  No, it simply calls us to give God the praise that is due His name. 

Today, whether you are in the darkness or not, focus your heart on the glory of God in the midst of what you faced today.  May His fame be such a consuming passion for you, that you cannot help but lift your heart in worship and praise.  And yes, there may still be tears along with the praise.  But praise Him nonetheless.