Daily Encouragement

“The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself!  We are all here!’

“The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.  He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’

“They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.’  Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.”  (Acts 16:27-32, NIV)

It isn’t about us.

When God permits the suffering of His saints without apparent cause; and when He allows pain and various humiliations into the lives of His children, we need to remind ourselves that it isn’t about us.

God so loved the jailer and his household that he permitted the illegal confinement and humiliation of two of His most productive people in order that through their faithful testimony in adversity His grand plan for humanity (e. g. the salvation of the world through Jesus) might be realized.

In our weakness, we would prefer that those in need would come to us in our bright, shining, sanctuaries of holiness.  However, it pleases God to send His people into the dark, adverse, and gritty places because that is where the light is most needed.  We are privileged to bear that light!  – Luther