Directions from the Divine
“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. ”
Before the jailer could end his life, Paul intervened and assured the man that all the prisoners were still in the prison. The jailer called for a light to see for himself that all was as Paul had said. Relieved, yet convicted, he fell down at the feet of the duo and inquired, “What must I do to be saved?” Evidently, the Holy Spirit had been working on the heart of the jailer during the midnight hour. He had seen enough. He had heard enough. He knew what he needed, but he required someone to show him the way.
Paul's response was simple and direct. In fact, the verse is one of the memory verses I taught my kindergartners when I was a teacher. Why? Because it is a simple, understandable verse that shows the way to salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. (Acts 16:31) The path to Heaven, plain and simple. Believe! Not baptism. Not works. Not wealth. Believe in Christ and accept Him as Lord of your life. Yes, salvation is truly that simple. The jailer heeded the instructions, and as we see at the end of the passage, he and his entire family were converted. None of which would have happened if God's plan had not taken place. God needed Paul and Silas in that prison so they could witness to the jailer, so he, in turn, could be a witness to his family. And I doubt the influence ended there. No, I have a feeling that influence spread like wildfire, and many souls were saved because Paul and Silas were willing to be used by God in a miraculous way.
Many of us long to be used by God, but we have our own plans and ambitions about how we want to be used. We picture ourselves as little David standing bravely before the giant or as Joshua marching around the walls of Jericho. We bask in the possibility of being able to heal the sick or raise the dead. We're willing to stretch our necks out a little, but we would really rather not stray too far from our comfort zones. After all, life is tough enough.
But God needs servants who are willing to be used in the darkest dungeons. He needs those who are willing to go where there is no light to share the light of His love. He needs those who are so in tune with Him that they don't just settle for the obvious but heed His word, even if it means denying themselves. He needs another Paul, another Silas. Are we willing to heed His call?
“The benefits of trusting the Lord may be deferred, but they’re always worth the wait. ”
