Good Night Part 2: Led into the Wilderness

Good Night Part 2

Acts 16:25, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them."

As I continue to meditate on this passage in Acts, I have attempted to understand what it must have been like for Paul and Silas. How dark was their cell? How cold were they? How scared were they? How emboldened were they? What was their temptation(s)...those shifts in the soul that want to abrasively resist injustice by our own strength, our own plan, in our own flesh? Was it a temptation that allowed a past wound to to dig deeper? Was it a hidden secret...maybe the guilt for not being sure whether God could be trusted in the moment? I wonder how many times I have buried that one? What about you? God are you with me? Do you see what is going on here in my life?  What were their temptations?

As I entered the cell with Paul and Silas I looked for Jesus. I wanted to see if he was there in the midst of their pain and suffering. I have not blogged in a while just because my heart was soaking it in and I was on my own journey. And during that process I was led to Luke 4:1-2.  “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan (having been baptized) and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” 

Now we could unpack quite a bit here and eventually we may.  But today, in simple there just a couple of overwhelmingly clear similarities between these two passages. 

1)Jesus, Paul, and Silas, were filled with the Holy Spirit and led by the HS through their entire ministry.

2)The Holy Spirit lead each of them into a type of wilderness to be tempted at a very weak moment in their lives.

So, on the cusp of Christ's ministry to the world, his first step into the shadow of the Cross was a step out of the wilderness. 

Like wise, Paul and Silas had been led by the Spirit to the exact place where they were beaten and thrown in jail. Earlier in Acts 16, as Paul and Silas taught the gospel, the Holy Spirit had opened Lydia’s eyes to see the truth of who Jesus  and her entire household came to Christ. Leading up to their beating and imprisonment, Paul called out a demon from a slave girl. Paul and Silas were being used to demonstrate God's power. And yet, here they were down in the pit. And in their hearts and heads they must have been tempted to abrasively resist the injustice. Tempted to withdrawal and give up. Tempted to stew in bitterness and self righteousness. That is the crazy thing about being locked up. There are only so many ways you can rebel. The battle is internal. But, so is the redemption. So, the power of the Holy Spirit is unmistakably present in you. In your wilderness. In your inner cell.

The more I hung out in that cell with Paul and Silas, the less and less I saw the darkness. The less I felt the cold. The pain and suffering in the darkness helped me see the cross more clearly. The temptations were very real and so overwhelming I had no choice but to call on him to rescue me. And he was there. The attempt to subvert God’s plan in Acts 16 was unraveling. And so it is in my life too. Light was beaming into the darkness. Jesus was there! They sang songs in the night! Are you singing songs in your night? May the Spirit of the living God be with you today. Jesus is in your darkness. 

Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Good Night Part 1.5 (quick thought)

That is a picture of my son wearing his Cubs shirt while fearlessly surrounded by Braves fans!

Acts 16:25, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them.”

My son walks around the house with a super hero cape on most of the day, everyday. Jackson is virtually fearless with his cape on. In “Doctor Zhivago”, Dr. Zhivago, finds the text of Psalm 91:5-6 on the bodies of two soldiers. Pasternak, the author went on to write. “ Decades later prisoners were to sew it (this passage) into their clothes and mutter its words in jail when they were summoned in the night for interrogation.”

Maybe as we are summoned in the night, the truth of the passage below will shelter us and give us strength to praise Him. Sew it into our clothes. Sew it into our hearts.

Pslam 91:4-6

4 

He will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

5 

You will not fear the terror of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 

nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

Good Night Part 1

Good Night Part 1

Acts 16:25 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

There is nothing more poisonous to my mind, heart, and soul than religion. While I rightfully gasp at the visible evil around me, I am constantly walking into a darkness that on the surface seems so bright. This darkness is religion; systematic standards and ideals that I have set over the course of my life in hopes of drawing God and others closer to me. I want approval. I want to work for my worth. I want to be rewarded for my efforts. And yet, even the rules I have chosen to live by are always beyond reach. I cannot live them out to the degree of my own expectations. And I place these same expectations, this best of burden, on those around me. My rules falsely give me, “the right”, to approve or disapprove of my neighbors, friends, family, coworkers, etc.

The witness to this truth is the fractured pieces of my soul, and the distorted and destructive patterns that gradually separate me from the people that I truly love and the God that truly loves me.

I feel the tremmors, the restlessness, the exhaustion in my life, and often wonder what is happening and why. But, it is difficult to slow down long enough to answer my own question. Maybe it is because the answer is also the unveiling of this illusion called religion; this darkness that seems so bright. It doesn’t work. I can’t pull it off on my own. No matter how hard I try. I have a difficult time admitting that “my” plan failed...again.

So, how in the darkness of night, in the darkness of the inner cell of a prison, having been beaten and locked in shackles, were Paul and Silas able to sing and pray? How were they able to bring joy into walls of captivity? How were they able to bring light into the darkness? What could be powerful enough to release them from their suffering in such a despairing situation? What was it that ignited their voices to sing praises and prayers to God that would echo through the pitch black chambers and move men to listen and not drown them out with cursing and chaos? For a moment the stench, the dampness, the stale air was evaporated and all that was wrong and broken in the men in cages or maybe the cages in these men, was held together as they delighted in the joy of these songs and prayers bouncing off the walls, through the bars, and into their hearts. What ruptured the plan to hold Paul and Silas, to hurt them, to steal their freedom, and interrupt the mission of God to which they had been called?

I don’t think it was religion, but it was certainly a good night..

Into the Deep

We have this print on the wall at the foot of our bed. I love this image because every morning I wake up and she is already diving into the deep. She is in the air, poised, and committed. But, she also seems thrilled by it all. There is a smile creeping around the edge of her face that says, "I was born to do this."

I remember growing up and watching the older kids jump and dive off the board at the pool. I wanted to dive but I had to learn how to swim. I wanted to dive but I was afraid of the deep end. So, I kept watching kids jump and dive for a few more days but every time they left the board they had a smile on their face and when they resurfaced they had a smile on their face.

Finally, I decided the fun of it all must outweigh fear of what was required. And so I learned as quickly as possible how to swim. At least I learned enough to convince my mom I could jump, land, come back up, and somehow get to the ladder.

The next day my launch countdown began. Several of my friends helped 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. My heart was pounding with both fear and delight. I ran. I jumped and the board sent me flying up, up, up...I had a huge smile on my face. So big, I forgot to close my mouth when I landed. But I recovered well. I am so glad I jumped.

I got this print and framed it because I often forget the joy that comes from leaping into the air. Luke 18:17 says, Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

When I wake up in the morning and see her already in flight I pray that I will enter his kingdom today like a child, with joy, delight and trust. There are days I do not feel like jumping. There are days the deep end seems too deep. More days than not I feel less than flight-worthy.

Have you ever had a dog that you tried to train? "Jump,boy, Jump!" And the dog just stares at you. Maybe Ol'Roy looks up at a bird flying through the air and thinks, "You should have bought a bird!"

Somedays we won't make it to the pool. We won't make it to the deep end. We won't make it to the board or take flight. But we aren't dogs or birds. But, in Christ we are the children of God and we were born to do this; to run, the jump, to dive into the deep, and trust Him. Maybe you can take flight today. Enjoy the ride.

Psalm 37:4-5 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5. Commit your way to the Lord; trust him and he will act.