Never let your song be silenced.

In troubling and uncertain times, it can be so easy to lose our joy, let fear creep in and tighten its grip around us and let our song be silenced. With so much going on around us it can be difficult to find our song again.

Thinking about this brought me back to the story of Paul and Silas in the Bible. There is one specific part of their story that I want to pay attention to, and I encourage you to read Acts 16 for the full picture.

“After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks” (Acts 16:23-24).

I can’t fully understand how they must have felt but if that were me, I can imagine it would be easy to have feelings of hurt, pain, fear, hopelessness, helplessness, and darkness surround me in that cell. To find my song in the middle of such a terrible situation with no end in sight would surely seem near impossible.

But what Paul and Silas did next demonstrates exactly why, in the midst of those dark and hopeless situations, there is always hope.

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose” (Acts 16:25-26).

Paul and Silas didn’t allow the darkness around them to silence their song. In that cell, in those chains, they chose to proclaim their song of hope and joy. Not only were they free from their chains and then released from prison, but the jailer and his entire household were saved!

My encouragement to you is this: whatever your situation is, don’t let your song be silenced. Proclaim your song and your breakthrough will come.

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Scripture is quoted from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.