Choosing Joy

Grace for All

The crowd joined in the attacks against Paul and Silas, so the authorities ordered that they be stripped of their clothes and beaten with a rod. When Paul and Silas had been severely beaten, the authorities threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to secure them with great care. When he received these instructions, he threw them into the innermost cell and secured their feet in stocks.

Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

(Acts 16:22-25)

Somewhere I have a favorite old T-shirt that I can’t find at the moment. I have kept it because it has a graphic and a saying that reminds me of something important. It shows a hammer smashing a violin, and it says, “Pity party time is over. I choose joy as my response.” The violin symbolizes the trope of playing sad music when someone faces a challenge.

For good or ill, my natural tendencies bend toward the melancholy. If you ask me if the glass is half full or half empty, I will probably start expecting the well to go dry. If I were with Paul and Silas, I would probably sit there complaining about the circumstances. Sing? You must be crazy.

And in a way, they were. Imagine the setting: you are a prisoner in a cell down the block, in the deepest, darkest part of the prison. You hear voices coming out of the dark—raised in song! You protest—bad enough to be in this cell, and now somebody is keeping you from your fitful sleep. But then you listen. “He leadeth me, he leadeth me; by his own hand he leadeth me: his faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me.” All your protests die, as do those of the other prisoners. You listen. Even the guards have ceased their chatter.

In the Acts 16 incident, something pretty amazing happens next. I’m not suggesting that all you have to do is sing to make everything change. I’m persuaded that Paul and Silas would have kept singing and praising God if those doors had never opened. I think Paul meant it when he wrote to the Philippians, “I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance…. I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.” In fact, the jail incident actually happened right there in Philippi!

Let’s pray: Father, grant to us a spirit of contentment. Some say that birds don’t sing because they are happy, but are happy because they sing. Open our eyes to our choices and guide us to choose joy as our response because of the one who gives us strength.

This devotion was written and read by Donn King.

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