Joy in a Jail

I was browsing an old Reader's Digest the other day and came across this story reprinted from the Los Angeles Times.

My wife is one of the luckiest women in the world. Don't take my word for it - ask all her friends. Last summer, she tripped on a rock and broke her wrist. Usually you would call this a piece of bad luck, but it turns out she did everything just right. This is the way the conversation went a day after the accident.
"My wife broke her wrist."
"Was it her right wrist or her left wrist?" a friend asked.
"The left," I said.
"She's lucky it was the left. If she'd broken the right, it could be twice as inconvenient."
The next friend wanted to know if, after she tripped, she fell forward or backward. "I'm not sure," I said. "Does it matter?"
"Of course it matters," he replied. "If she fell forward, it was the best thing that could happen, because otherwise she could have injured her back. By breaking her fall with her hand, she saved injuring her nose."
Our neighbour said, "I heard your wife had a fall."
"Yes, she broke her wrist."
"It could have been her hip. Some women are born lucky. The trick of any bone injury is to break it in the right place at the right time."
"How can you do that?"
"When you break something, you have to be in close proximity to an orthopaedic surgeon who isn't out playing golf when you need him."
"Our doctor wasn't even out fishing."
"Then she really is a lucky woman. I hope she realises it."
"She does - she counts her blessings every time she falls." (RD, Feb. '91, p. 37)

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

In Philippi

Paul and Silas (with Timothy) had come to Philippi - responding to Paul's vision in Troas about the "man from Macedonia". So far a small number of Jewish women had welcomed the message and become believers. One of them, Lydia, had given them hospitality. All this was encouraging - though the bulk of the population was still untouched.

One day they were on their way to the small band of converts at the place of prayer. They "were met by a slave-girl who had an evil spirit that enabled her to predict the future" (Acts 16.16b).

There are those today who claim such an ability. Often they simply prey on people's gullibility for their own gain. Others, like this slave-girl, seem to have some kind of ability. In the scriptures we are warned against such guidance (as in Deut. 12.10-11). Whatever its immediate appeal, it leads to a snare because it come from the side of evil. For the Christian it ought to be clear that we don't consult horoscopes, tarot cards, palm readers, mediums, channellers… We are to live solely in dependence on the Lord - knowing that there is forgiveness, wholeness and certainty only in him.

But, someone says, there is good in these people - their writings and advice have helped many. That may be true. Yet we are attracted by the element of truth and led into the trap of error.

There were occasions when evil spirits gave accurate testimony about Jesus (as in Lk. 8.28). But he never welcomed such testimony. Jesus always cast out the evil spirit - such a person needed to be healed.

Now the words of this slave-girl were true - "These men are servants of the Most High God! They announce to you how you can be saved!" (v. 17) That was certainly who they were and what they were doing in Philippi. But the gospel could not advance in Philippi with an apparent alliance between good and evil, between God and the devil. In the temptations, Jesus refused to bow down and worship the devil (Matt. 4.8-10). He also rejected at every point the devil's "help".

Paul cast out the evil spirit "in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 16.18). At once she was healed.

The healing had economic consequences - she could no longer foretell the future. Her owners seized Paul and Silas (no mention of Timothy) and dragged them before the Roman officials on the charge that they were Jews who were breaking the law which forbade proselytising Roman citizens. Without any proper investigation, they were stripped, whipped and thrown into the inner cell.

Joy in Jail

How would we have reacted in such circumstances? I suspect we would have had some very depressing thoughts about human injustice - and a sense of betrayal by God that this has happened in the course of doing his good work.

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them" (v. 25). Remarkable!

In the Beatitudes, Jesus was turning upside down our accepted social views of happiness. He ended those sayings with the words, "Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted" (Matt. 5.11-12). Paul wrote, "I am certain that nothing can separate us from [God's] love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below - there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8.38-39). Peter wrote, "My dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you. Rather be glad that you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may be full of joy when his glory is revealed. Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers… if you suffer because you are a Christian, don't be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ's name" (1 Pet. 4.12-16).

"Being cheerful keeps you healthy," we read in Proverbs 17.22. "It is slow death to be gloomy all the time." But joy is more than "having a good laugh". It comes from deep within. It springs from the work of God - from the gift of his grace and the ministry of his Spirit.

Earthquake

Paul and Silas didn't pray for an earthquake. They praised and prayed and there was an earthquake. Later, Paul was unjustly imprisoned for two years at Caesarea. I am sure he praised and prayed there too - but there was no earthquake. "We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him…" he wrote (Rom. 8.28). "All things" - not just the good welcome outcomes, but truly "all things".

On this occasion there were other prisoners so impressed (they had been listening to them - Acts 16.25b) - so impressed that not one of them tried to escape after the earthquake (v. 28).

Enter the jailer - is this the "man from Macedonia"? "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

What prompts his question? The authorities would require his death if any of the prisoners had escaped. But they were all there. No, he knew a deeper spiritual need - focussed perhaps by the slave-girl's testimony, fanned by her healing, fired by these two prisoners and the earthquake. How can I get to know this God who saves and heals, this God who is Lord even of the physical world?

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your family" (v. 31).

The answer is the same for us as for him. Turn away from our own securities and trust the one who gave himself completely for us. Here alone is the way to salvation, forgiveness, healing, life and joy. Yes, joy - even in jail!

Don't "trust your lucky stars"! "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved!"

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