Worship is the Key to Trials and Tribulations
Worship is the Key to Trials and Tribulations Worship is God's way. When we worship in our storm God shows up. I love the story in the bible of Paul and Silas. You probably know it too, but I want you to fully grasp what’s going on here. First, we need to read Acts 16:22-26. “. . . the magistrates tore off [Paul and Silas’] clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. . . Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 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.”
Think about it. Paul and Silas were beaten with rods and had many stripes laid on them. Their flesh was slashed, bruised, and bleeding. Open to the elements, their wounds were oozing and stinging. They were in physical agony. Then, they were thrown into the inner prison. The inner prison was the deepest, darkest, coldest dungeon—the absolute worst and most secure place. On top of that, their feet were clasped in these wooden stocks that locked so they couldn’t move. It was incredibly uncomfortable.
This kind of pain and turmoil is something that most of us in modern-day America have a hard time fathoming. Imagine what it must’ve been like from their point of view. One of the most difficult things for us is being uncomfortable. There were probably rats scurrying around in the darkness, perhaps crawling across their feet and legs. Are you seeing it? This was not a pretty sight. Seeing Christians martyred was something Paul was accustomed to. And don’t forget the raw, physical pain. I would say what they were experiencing definitely qualified as a storm. It’s enough to make most of us ball up our fists and cry out, “Why me, God? How could You allow this?” Job did that. He cried out, “Why God?” and God could handle it and answered. Job didn’t sin because through it all, even though he had questions, he knew his “redeemer lives” regardless of his conditions. It’s ok if you have questions for God when going through deep and troubled waters. He’s a big God and can handle it.
Yet, Paul and Silas still had the courage and the strength through the Lord to pray and worship. It was through this obedience, this prayer and worship to the Lord that God miraculously moved in His supernatural power to free those in captivity. How do you thank God intimately when you are being tortured and dying? You have to know He is present and that something bigger is going on. Paul and Silas understood the reality that Jesus had risen from the dead and was right there with them through the Holy Spirit regardless of feelings and horrific circumstances. None of their hardships destroyed their faith in the Lord.
Worshiping the Lord during our storms is faith in action. It has nothing to do with how well we sing or what we feel about our voices. It’s a “sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15). Sacrifice of praise does not mean that you praise God for horrible things like getting beaten to shreds and thrown into prison or a diesel truck falls on you. We don’t worship God because of our pain. We worship Him despite our pain, for Who He is. Like Paul and Silas, you realize something bigger is going on.
Worship combined with prayer and the Word of God equals intimacy. What was the result? God showed up in a miraculous way by sending an earthquake that shook the prison to its foundations. Chains were broken and captives set free, even the ones who had fastened the chains and thought they were free. The Lord wants to do that for all of us who are chained by strongholds and locked up in prisons of false freedom.
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