Delight in the Darkness
“And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. ”
At six o'clock this morning, I was awakened by the sound of not one or two, but an entire choir of whippoorwills. (If you've never heard a whippoorwill, it sounds a lot like an owl on steroids.) From the sound of it, the ensemble was directly outside my bedroom window. One would call out, and the others would answer. At first, I felt privileged to listen to the melodic conversation, but when it went on and on, I became agitated. It was, after all, only six o'clock in the morning, and Jason hadn't gotten home from work until after two o'clock. I'm no math whiz, but I can tell you right now that amount of sleep is not enough for me.
For nearly half an hour I listened to the sound of the whippoorwills. At one point, I wanted to open my window and scream into the darkness, "This is not the time for choir practice!" Thankfully, they quieted down before I did so.
Later on, after I had time to wake up and shake off my grumbles, I realized how foolish my behavior and attitude had been. What right did I have to begrudge the birds their song simply because I wasn't ready to get out of bed yet? In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had been wrong, not only in my attitude but also in the words that nearly tumbled from my mouth.
Anytime is a good time for choir practice!
The whippoorwills were simply carrying out the command issued over and over again in the Bible—sing unto the Lord. They had something to say, and they didn't hold back. They had a song in their hearts, so they let it fly. Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Isn't that what the Bible instructs? Don't we have something worth singing about?
Now I understand that some people are more prone to sing than others. I also understand that some people enjoy singing while those around them wished sincerely they didn't. I wouldn't say these people are tone deaf, but their song can only be described as a joyful noise. But you know what? That's okay. God would rather hear that joyful noise than to see a saint without a song. He longs to hear our praise, and He deserves our worship!
“As we abide in Christ, trust Him, and depend on His grace, we always have something to sing about. ”
Paul and Silas understood that. Exhausted, wounded and weary, the missionaries found delight in the darkness of the dungeon. They didn't throw a pity party. They didn't complain or contemplate defeat. No, they prayed and sang.
And I don't believe their song was “Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen.”
In fact, I believe their song might have closely resembled “Praise You in This Storm” or “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” Whatever their song, it was not a soothing humming. The Bible says it was loud enough that all the prisoners heard. (We can only hope the duo were not in the “joyful noise club” lest the other prisoners think the midnight serenade was part of their punishment.)
Corrie ten Boom once stated, “When you're covered by His wings, it can get pretty dark.” Yes, in His wings there is safety, but that doesn't mean there will be no darkness. Nevertheless, like Paul and Silas, we, too, can find delight in our dungeons of darkness. To do so, we need only use the same approach they did.
