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 fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here” (Acts 16: 25-28).
Paul and Silas were in the Philippian jail. They didn’t just pray and sing praises at midnight so they could be delivered. That wasn’t why they were singing and praising God. How do I know?
When the Lord sent the earthquake, all the prison doors opened and every man’s shackles fell off his feet, but Paul and Silas didn’t leave. They just kept right on praising.
If praising God to get deliverance had been their motive, they would have left as soon as the earthquake came. But they were praising God out of a pure heart of love. They were excited and worshiping the Lord for who He is.
They had moved into this place that Jesus was talking about. They were of good cheer and not afraid. Paul and Silas were rejoicing in their relationship with God.
They knew He would take care of things, so they just rejoiced.
When deliverance came, they didn’t even take it. They stayed in jail. And not only Paul and Silas—every one of those unsaved prisoners stayed too. Wow! That was one powerful manifestation of the presence of God to keep all those ungodly people in their prison cells even after they’d been loosed.
Source: Opera
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