A FOOTHOLD IN EUROPE
ACTS 16:11-40
NASB
11 So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis; 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.
14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; [a]and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
16 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you [a]the way of salvation.” 18 She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very [a]moment.
19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was [a]gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, 20 and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, 21 and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their [a]robes off them and proceeded to order [b]them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; 24[a]and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the [b]stocks.
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” 29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of [a]the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34 And he brought them into his house and set [a]food before them, and rejoiced [b]greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.
35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” 36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” 38 The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39 and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. 40 They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they [a]encouraged them and departed.
16:14 [a]Lit whose heart the Lord opened 16:17 [a]Lit a way 16:18 [a]Lit hour 16:19 [a]Lit gone out 16:22 [a]Or outer garments [b]Lit to beat with rods 16:24 [a]Lit who [b]Lit wood 16:32 [a]Two early mss read God 16:34 [a]Lit a table [b]Or greatly with his whole household, having believed in God 16:40 [a]Or exhorted
NLT
11 We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis. 12 From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. 14 One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. 15 She and her household were baptized, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.
16 One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”
18 This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.
19 Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. 20 “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. 21 “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.”
22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.
25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” 32 And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. 33 Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. 34 He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.
35 The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” 36 So the jailer told Paul, “The city officials have said you and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace.”
37 But Paul replied, “They have publicly beaten us without a trial and put us in prison —and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!”
38 When the police reported this, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 So they came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city. 40 When Paul and Silas left the prison, they returned to the home of Lydia. There they met with the believers and encouraged them once more. Then they left town.
An old Celtic benediction offers this delightful blessing: “And may the wind always be at your back.” In the days of wind-powered travel, seafarers could hope for no greater fortune than a strong breeze filling their sails. Whatever else might go wrong, a stiff tailwind always felt like divine favor. Anyone who loves sailing can appreciate the metaphor. There’s nothing more exhilarating than to have the full sail set and to have a strong, prevailing wind pushing the ship with ease. In smooth surf, the bow slips through the water without noise or resistance. The hearts of Paul and his men must have pounded with anticipation. Pardon the mixed metaphor, but having the wind at your back is the exact opposite of having to stop at closed doors.
So Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke, and other unnamed helpers boarded a ship in Troas bound for Neapolis, the principal seaport serving Philippi, an important city in Macedonia (16:10-12). Imagine their feeling after several weeks of halting, frustrating, confusing attempts at progress. Luke describes their voyage as “a straight course” (16:11), meaning the winds favored their route, neither blowing them off course nor requiring the crew to tack against a headwind. They sailed, as it were, with the wind at their backs. Ahead of them: Europe. Uncharted territory brimming with potential. But even with fresh momentum, establishing a church in Europe would require tenacity and sacrifice in the face of new difficulties.
— 16:11-12 —
Paul’s entourage departed Troas and ran “a straight course” (16:11) to Neapolis via the island of Samothrace. Draw a line on a map from Troas to Neapolis, and you will see that Samothrace is out of the way. The phrase “straight course” was a nautical expression meaning the ship sailed to its planned destination without having to tack (chart a zigzag course) against the wind. Luke states that the trip took two days, as opposed to five for the return trip (cf. 20:6). Ships didn’t sail at night, so the captain dropped anchor off Samothrace.
Though Neapolis means “new city,” it was founded more than five hundred years before Paul’s visit, which occurred sometime around AD 50. Today, the modern city of Kavalla covers the site. This beautiful port served Philippi, which lay just 10 miles northwest, just over a small range of mountains surrounding the harbor.[151] After disembarking in Neapolis, the team went straightaway to Philippi, which Luke calls “a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony” (16:12).
Philippi had been a small village, but was transformed into a military stronghold around 357 BC by Philip II of Macedon (the father of Alexander the Great), who used it to control nearby gold mines. The later Romans made it a colony, meaning it modeled the culture and economy of Rome in an effort to attract Roman citizens and military veterans. The seat of Roman government lay in Amphipolis, a little more than 35 miles southwest, so Philippi became known as a chief city because of its economy and influence.[152] It commanded a strategic location for both land and sea trade. In addition to robust agriculture and gold-mining industries, the city was the site of a famous school of medicine.[153]
— 16:13 —
In the absence of a synagogue, Jews typically gathered informally for teaching and prayer on the Sabbath. Philippi didn’t have a synagogue, either because of hostility toward Jews[154] or because very few Jewish men lived in the area. Regardless, the team went outside the city gate to a spot on the riverbank customarily used as “a place of prayer,” an informal synagogue.
“We were supposing” reflects the verb nomizō [3543] and gives the impression that Paul and his men made an educated guess about the location, as though they followed an assumption. Nomizō basically means “to think,” “to believe,” or “to consider” and can be more or less definite, but it’s frequently used in the sense of “common knowledge.” For example, it’s common knowledge that movie theaters serve popcorn. It’s not a rule, but everyone knows. In the same way, everyone knew where Jews in Philippi gathered for prayer each Sabbath. Of course, “everyone” included Luke, who knew the city well.
The men joined the gathering and began speaking to “the women who had assembled,” a phrase implying the general absence of men. They would have welcomed a rabbi of Paul’s stature; Timothy must have seen glimpses of his mother reflected on each face in the meeting, devout Jewish women without believing husbands.
— 16:14-15 —
It’s possible that the people of Philippi knew this prominent woman not by her given name, but by a nickname, Lydia, because she came from Thyatira, a city founded by the Lydian kingdom in the region still known as Lydia. If so, she was using the designation to her advantage as a businesswoman importing the trade specialty of her hometown: purple cloth. Interestingly, Thyatira lies in the heart of the Roman province of Asia. The Lydian kingdom at its height covered the very territory Paul couldn’t enter.
A hint from the narrative, “and her household” (16:15), suggests that Lydia was either single or widowed yet was wealthy in Philippi. A little history concerning her trade also shows her to be a brilliant and shrewd businesswoman. Romans incorporated purple cloth into clothing and tapestries to signify rank, so the demand for her product gave her a brisk business. Originally, the dye necessary to create the cloth came from Tyre in Phoenicia, where small amounts of murex dye were painstakingly extracted from great quantities of mollusks.[155] The resulting cloth was worth its weight in gold. Lydia imported either the dye or the cloth and then sold it for much less than her Phoenician competitors.
Luke describes her as “a worshiper of God” (16:14), a common designation for a Gentile who had formally embraced Judaism. She and her household came to faith in Christ as a result of Paul’s teaching, and they were baptized. Luke gives God the credit for opening her heart to respond to the gospel. Her response included an outpouring of generosity, and she insisted she host Paul and his entourage. The word translated “urged” (parakaleō [3870]) is a potent term in its own right, meaning “to exhort, appeal, or encourage.” To this Luke adds “prevailed” (parabiazomai [3849]), an almost violent Greek word that suggests the use of force. Factor in her rationale —“If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord” (16:15) —and one can see why Lydia had become a rich merchant. No one said no to Lydia!
— 16:16-18 —
Paul and his companions continued to minister in Philippi, frequenting the “place of prayer” by the river outside the gates of the city (16:13). For whatever reason, a demon-possessed slave girl (paidiskē [3814]) began to endorse Paul’s ministry. The term paidiskē refers to a maid or a slave girl, but her masters made lucrative use of her as a fortune-teller (16:16).
Luke describes the source of her “fortune-telling” (manteuomai [3132]) ability as a “spirit of divination” (pneuma [4151] of pythōn [4436]), referring to Python, the mythical serpent or dragon that guarded the oracle of Delphi, the renowned temple of priestesses who supposedly uttered prophecy while under a trance. The word eventually grew to include anyone thought to have a supernatural ability to see the future. Pagan generals throughout history have relied heavily on the services of shamans and fortune-tellers to indicate the best time for battle and to inspire their troops with favorable predictions. Someone with her abilities would have had a giant client base among the superstitious Romans in Philippi.
Whatever the designation, the text makes it clear that she was possessed by a demon. Perhaps as a means of improving business, the spirit resorted to flattery (cf. Luke 4:34; 8:28), endorsing the men as prophets. Confronted by a rival the demon could not defeat, it cleverly exalted the girl’s position by having her assume the role of community advisor: “I, your trusted seer, give my approval to these men.” The demon probably hoped to secure enough goodwill to avoid a confrontation and maybe ride the coattails of Christianity: “They offer a way of salvation; I offer a way of salvation; we’re together in the salvation business.”
After several days of this, Paul reached the end of his tether. Unintimidated, he took control of the situation. Speaking to the demon, not the girl, he commanded the spirit to leave (Acts 16:18). He didn’t rely upon his own authority; he commanded the demon “in the name of Jesus Christ,” which meant “by the authority of Jesus Christ.” Immediately, the demon released control of the girl and left, taking with it the ability to tell fortunes —and make money. Naturally, her masters deeply resented the loss of income (16:19). They obviously didn’t see possession by an evil spirit as a drawback, so long as it brought money into the household.
— 16:19-24 —
In most ancient cities, the marketplace (agora [58]) was a public space not unlike a flea market. This large, open-air square, bounded by some permanent retail buildings and shelters, gave any paying vendor the opportunity to display his or her wares. The market also became the natural place to conduct public affairs and resolve disputes. In a Roman colony, the marketplace usually included a “judgment seat” (bēma [968]), a raised stone platform from which government officials tried cases and issued proclamations.
The slave girl’s masters apprehended Paul and Silas, dragged them before the city officials, and issued a charge they thought would stick. Clearly, they couldn’t tell the truth: “These men commanded a spirit to leave and now we have to work for a living.” Not only would that make her masters look petty and foolish, but it was hardly a crime. If the spirit were evil, Paul should be commended. If the spirit were beneficial, as the girl’s masters would claim, their accusation violated their own beliefs concerning spirits and gods. In Greco-Roman religion, spirits often did the commanding, not the obeying. Magic and occult practices attempted to fend off or appease the spirits or otherwise manipulate them, but everybody knew these superstitious practices weren’t always effective. In the end, only gods could command spirits with any degree of authority. A face-value complaint against Paul and Silas would have validated their ministry publicly while discrediting Roman religious beliefs.
Although Judaism was a legally tolerated religion, Romans generally resented Jews as antisocial and regarded their belief in one God as antagonistic to Roman values, using terms like “superstitious” and “impious” to describe their practices.[156] So, unable to tell the truth about their actual grievance, the slave girl’s owners instead branded Paul and Silas as particularly radical Jews bent on undermining the moral fabric of Philippi (16:20-21). To close their case, they accused the men of “throwing our city into confusion” (ektarassō [1613]), a verb that refers to causing a riot, disturbance, agitation, or disorder. And this affected the bottom-line concern of any empire-loving Roman. They prided themselves on the order they brought to the lands they conquered, brutal as their methods were.
This, of course, was not only a false charge, but it was hypocritical. The slave girl’s masters successfully turned the city officials and court spectators into a mob. Considering recent events in Rome, they had a remarkably easy time. In AD 49–50, Emperor Claudius issued an edict expelling all Jews from Rome (18:2), though we are not sure why. Some have suggested that the intrusion of Christianity among the Jewish community in Rome had been causing unrest among Jews, Christians, and God-fearing Gentiles who were converting to Christianity.[157] In any case, because Romans did not yet distinguish mainline Judaism from the sect of the Christians, Rome’s negative attitudes toward Jews at the time would have added fuel to the fire.
Certainly, a judge could exercise wide latitude in deciding a case, but he had an obligation to seek justice, which the Romans prized as a virtue. In this case, the accused were not given an opportunity to dispute the charges, no witnesses were presented to substantiate the accusation, and no time was given for cross-examination. In fact, they never discovered that Paul and Silas were both Roman citizens —which would have changed everything.
Instead, the magistrates summarily ordered Paul and Silas to be stripped and beaten and thrown into prison (16:22-24). Their ordered punishment reveals intense anger and fear. Being beaten with rods, locked in the most secure part of the prison, and put in stocks was an extreme reaction, even by Roman standards. Obviously, Paul and Silas had become outlets for a growing anti-Semitism in Philippi. The order to guard them securely also betrays the town’s paranoia.
— 16:25-28 —
By midnight, Paul and Silas were bloodied and bruised, their feet in stocks, chained to a wall in the “inner prison,” the deepest part of the prison (16:24). This would have taken the wind out of most people’s sails, but Paul and Silas prayed and sang praise songs to God.
Luke highlights the evangelistic opportunity of the circumstance. Paul and Silas took their beatings without revealing their Roman citizenship (cf. 22:25). They could have proclaimed their innocence to the other prisoners; instead, they held a worship service (16:25). They didn’t curse God for the injustice or worry that He had abandoned them; they prayed and praised. The other prisoners witnessed everything and observed their conduct. Then, for their benefit, the Lord shook the prison down to its foundations and set everyone free (16:26). Not just Paul and Silas. Everyone. Paul, Silas, and the entire prison population could have escaped, which would have been a fitting revenge against the city of Philippi! Even so, the evangelists elected to remain in their cell and apparently influenced everyone else to stay as well. (So much for undermining Roman order!)
Then Paul had to stop the jailer from killing himself (16:27-28). The jailer knew that if the prisoners had escaped, an excruciating death waited for him after a hasty trial.
— 16:29-34 —
The jailer lit up his ruined jailhouse and asked two of his prisoners, “What must I do to be saved?” (16:29-30). What he meant by being “saved” (sōzō [4982]) is debatable. He may have gained at least some prior knowledge of Paul and Silas’s message, enough to understand that his soul was in some kind of peril. Some expositors claim he meant “How can I be saved from having offended two powerful magicians?” or something similar, which probably is closer to the truth. Regardless, Paul and Silas gave him a concise answer. Not sufficient for someone utterly lacking in knowledge of God or His Son or the concepts of sin, heaven, hell, and atonement, but clear enough to let him know that he needed to hear about Jesus Christ.
The jailer addressed Paul and Silas using kyrios [2962], which often means “sir,” a title of respect. But the word Kyrios is also used in reference to God in the Greek translation of the Old Testament and is a common title for Jesus Christ, indicating His absolute lordship. If the jailer recognized Paul and Silas as representatives of God, their answer turned his attention to the proper object of fear and respect: “Believe the Lord —the true Kyrios —Jesus.”
Sometimes Luke compresses the events of days or even weeks into a short description. Subtle clues, such as the use of the imperfect tense, signal when he is summarizing or compressing a span of time. None of those clues appear in this case. The fact is, a lot happened in a few short hours! Their concise answer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (16:31), set in motion a remarkable series of events. Paul and Silas —still bloodied, bruised, and stinking of prison —preached to the man’s household (16:32). After they spoke, the jailer washed and dressed their wounds. In response to his faith, and that of his household, Paul and Silas baptized the new believers (16:33). Then the entire group sat down to share a meal as brothers and sisters (16:34)!
— 16:35-39 —
Apparently the sun rose on a new day for the city officials. Luke doesn’t explain the reason for their sudden change of heart, but they said, “Release those men” (16:35). They may have received more information. Lydia may have interceded for Paul and Silas. The officials may simply have decided a sound beating and night in jail would temper the missionaries’ rabble-rousing. Who knows?
The Greek term translated “policemen” (16:38; rhabdouchos [4465]) literally means “stick men” —that is, men who wield clubs. These were likely the same men who beat Paul and Silas with rods at the trial. When they came with the order of release, Paul turned the situation into an opportunity to accomplish two objectives (16:37). First, he confronted his offenders. He could have left quietly. In fact, that’s how many Christians respond to personal injustice, mistaking passivity for forgiveness. Instead, Paul chose to confront his offenders with their outrageous mistreatment and their flagrant violation of their own laws. By demanding that the policemen come and release him personally, he forced the men to acknowledge their offense. This also sent a clear message to the magistrates, forcing them to acknowledge their wrongdoing, at least to themselves.
As a second objective, Paul wanted to give himself and the church enough political clout in Philippi to discourage bullying. Philippi was a Roman colony, and the magistrates were agents of Roman law. When they heard they violated the rights and privileges of two Roman citizens, they rightly feared reprisal from Rome (16:38). They also worried that the continued presence of Paul and Silas in Philippi might spark a severe public backlash when news of their mistreatment spread (16:39). The conduct of the city magistrates was a political scandal they desperately wanted covered up. Paul let them off the hook by withholding his complaint to Rome, but not without first letting the magistrates know he was no pushover.
He may have intended a third objective. Without a doubt, Paul’s show of strength cultivated respect among those in the city government. Moreover, he did forgive their offense, and gratitude tends to soften hard hearts. Perhaps recognizing their close call would make the magistrates more open to the gospel.
— 16:40 —
Luke caps off the event concisely. Paul and Silas’s return to the house of Lydia to encourage the believers —who were no doubt gathered for prayer —recalls Peter’s release from prison (12:10-17). Luke demonstrates again that Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles was in no way inferior to Peter’s ministry to the Jews.
APPLICATION: ACTS 16:11-40
Principles for Success
After a long period of frustration trying to penetrate Asia with the gospel while one door after another closed, Paul and his team finally found an opening in Europe. Without hesitation, the group set sail for Macedonia. Their groundbreaking ministry in a brand-new area among people of a very different mindset highlights three practical principles regarding ministry —or any worthwhile effort.
Principle #1: Beginning any worthwhile endeavor requires flexibility (16:11-15). If you are set in concrete with a list of hard-and-fast rules and regulations, you’re laying the groundwork for failure. One of the beautiful things about the Spirit of God is that He keeps us flexible. Paul’s vision featured a man of Macedonia calling for help. His first convert? A woman from Asia, the region he had not been able to enter. Imagine if Paul had focused only on Macedonian men! When he found the customary place where Jews gathered for prayer, he found a group of women. They became the focus of his ministry.
It’s a sign of maturity to stay flexible. Do your best as a growing Christian to flex with the scene. The message never changes, but we have a vast variety of methods available to meet an endless number of opportunities. What works when witnessing to one person might alienate another. So be sensitive. Stay flexible.
Principle #2: Every major breakthrough is met with a corresponding resistance (16:16-18). When you are involved in a unique ministry or a new kind of endeavor, or if your faithful efforts yield a sudden breakthrough, the devil has a way of bringing a unique kind of resistance. And he will meet you halfway or better. You will try one strategy and he will come with a counterattack. You will attempt one approach and he will be ready with another. And the resistance always feels overwhelming compared to the joy of progress.
This is normal. Expect Satan’s counterattack. It is a backhanded compliment from the enemy that what you have done is effective. When you learn to see the resistance of evil in those terms, perseverance becomes easier. The last thing you want to do at this point is give up. Until you throw in the towel, Satan hasn’t won. In the now-famous words of Winston Churchill, who rallied his country to fight Nazi Germany, “This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never —in nothing, great or small, large or petty —never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”[158]
Principle #3: Sowing praise in hard times reaps a harvest of joy (16:19-34). It’s so easy to praise God when the money’s flowing in, the organization’s humming along nicely, the wind’s at your back, and the decisions are easy. It’s natural to praise God after the earthquake has broken open the prison gates. But it’s extremely difficult to praise God while you’re still in the dungeon with your back against the wall and you see no natural reason to hope. When you have received mistreatment and misunderstanding for your best efforts, it’s easy to wonder, Is all this pain I’m suffering worth it?
The longer I live, the more I believe that joy is a choice. Furthermore, God uses the joy of His servants to accomplish His plans. Not because He needs our power of positive thinking to make good things happen, but to encourage us to choose to find satisfaction in Him rather than in our circumstances. After all, He’s permanent; circumstances change with the weather. Praising Him in the hard times will cause you to reap a harvest of joy, not only in the future, but in the present, where you are.