Psalm 145:1-3 I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your Name forever and ever. Every day will I bless You; And I will Praise Your Name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.

 

For the past few days, we have been discussing the incident found in the 16th Chapter of the Book of Acts when Paul and Silas were severely beaten and thrown in prison because they cast a demon out of a young woman.

 

Rather than lie on the prison floor and moan and groan with pain, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God. They did not blame God for what had happened to them or get angry with Him because of their circumstances. Instead, they sang and they sang loud enough for all the other prisoners to hear them.

 

Even in the midst of the most horrible conditions, they sang of the Goodness of God. We don’t know what they sang but perhaps it was the first part of Psalm 145. I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your Name forever and ever. Every day will I bless You; And I will Praise Your Name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.

 

My study of this took me to the commentary of James Hervey. In regard to this, he wrote What a scene! The dark inner dungeon; the prisoners fast in the stocks, their backs still bleeding and smarting from the stripes; the companionship of criminals and outcasts of society; the midnight hour; and not groans, or curses, or complaints, but joyous trustful songs of praise ringing through the vault! While their companions in the jail listened with astonishment to the heavenly sound in that place of shame and sorrow.

 

I’m sure prisoners had never heard anything like this before. The typical song of those in the dungeon would be that of cursing and blasphemy but not this time! They heard songs of praises to God sung by two men of great faith and they were about to witness the mighty move of the Holy Spirit!

 

Even in the most dire of circumstances, Paul and Silas did what they were created and called to do: Tell of the Goodness of God and Preach the Gospel Message of Christ. We are not told if any of the other prisoners accepted Christ as their Savior, but I’m sure some, if not all, did. How could they not?

 

The lesson for us is this: What song are we singing during our times of trial and tribulation? What are our neighbors hearing from our house? What message are we spreading to our family and friends? What are we singing?

 

Faith in God will result in singing praises to Him no matter what. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. (Psalms 104:33) Sing of His excellent greatness! Sing because He loves you! Sing because He has never failed you! Sing because He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross for you! Sing! Sing! Sing!

 

Singing praise to God will……….turn the tide……….in this world!

 

There is a song of praise in my heart!         Doreen

 

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