Made Secure

 She said 'we are all just prisoners here of our own device'.  Hotel California.

Who the Son sets free, is free indeed.  Jesus.

Jail time.

It isn't something that appeals, is it.

I'm sure Paul and Silas were none too happy about it, especially when it followed having taken a beating from a mob which had acted in full sight (and the backing) of the region's authorities (Acts 16:19-24). It was a far from ideal situation, and yet, these men  could be found, at midnight in the deepest cell, in prayer and worship in spite of their miserable conditions.

Most of us have never known such acute persecution, but we've probably been in circumstances that have tested us. There are times when it's been it's been characteristic of us to behave like Jonah... to have too much pride to want to serve others well or to be just plain sulky about the fact that we should be 'picked on' to be involved in such an arduous venture, but thankfully, mercifully, we sometimes respond by grace with faith, and it's then the unexpected can unfold.

It certainly does here.

I suspect if we were sitting somewhere and an earthquake struck, our first reaction would be to get up and go, but as the terrified jailer prepares to kill himself for his failing to keep his prisoners in jail, something startling happens - Paul yells out to him that everything's fine... they're still there, so no need to do himself any harm.

How is it that these men could remain so calm, so thankful, in such adverse conditions?

They clearly understood something in their very core.

Whatever befell them, they were under a much higher protective custody.

It held them when evil befell them.

It held them when the prison was tumbling in around them.

It assured them as they sought to help another in terrible anguish.

No prison can hold such people. Unjust accusations, adversity, suffering, even the very real threat of death does not stop them, because amidst such circumstances, they possess a freedom that no man or diabolical power can take from them - they have been truly made free by the excellence of liberty that God gives to His blood-bought children.

There is another prison... common amongst a people who feed on fast food meals and the latest fake drama on the 'in' show. We can see it so palpably right now in our 'safety' obsessed state - it's granting you everything you 'want' whilst what's removed is everything you actually need. Those who see it and speak up are marginalised and maligned, but the cry will still rise in the midnight hour, and woe betide the men pleasers when the earthquakes comes.

Liberty costs, and freedom had to be purchased with the most precious blood of all. We should expect the days we have entered to become harder, but let's pray that we, like Paul and Silas, are given the strength to sing in the cell until it brings the house down and saves those truly in peril.