Acts 16:37 But Paul said to the officer: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”
When is the time to assert our rights? When do we stand up and demand justice for ourselves? When do we remain silent for the sake of the Gospel? These are hard questions.
Followers of Jesus have always had to answer this question for themselves. And different people have had different timings for their confrontation of the powers of their day.
So what are we to do if we are doxed, canceled, unfriended, shamed, picketed against, taken into court, fired, blacklisted, fire bombed, run out of town? These actions are increasingly being applied to Christians in our country and around the world. Persecution because we name Jesus as our Master has always brought opposition.
So, how are we to react to these attacks? When do we speak up? When do we stand our ground?
Our text sits at the end of an account where Paul and Silas are put in prison after having been beaten for what they were saying. Why didn’t they speak up at the moment before they were beaten, a violation of Roman law? Why didn’t they prevent the beating from taking place? Why did they choose to endure the beating and then speak up as they were about to be released?
And how does this story help us with the timing of our defense?
There are different times when a defense can be made, and knowing which one of those moments may be unknown in advance of the event. The way we know is by being in tune with the Holy Spirit. We must get used to listening and obeying as a way of life. Then when persecution comes, it will be easy to listen to the Holy Spirit’s prompting because we have done it so may times before.
But this kind of ‘being in tune’ with the Spirit takes time to develop. He often speaks in very small and subtle ways to begin with. But the more we focus on listening and obeying, the more we will hear and understand what He is wanting us to do.
I purchase a new-to-me truck a few months ago. When I started to drive it on a fairly regular basis, I couldn’t find the radio stations that I was accustomed to hearing. I didn’t know the station frequencies.
So as a result of this lack of knowledge I had to manually tune the radio. I slowly dialed the tuner, moving up slowly in frequency. I listened to the sounds coming over the radio and stopped when I had tuned in one of the stations I desired. I was confused several times because the same station is transmitted over several frequencies because of overlapping signal areas.
Needless to say, I finally found the stations I wanted and programmed the buttons to these stations. I had to listen carefully and then act on what I heard in order to get the radio set up the way I like it.
It is the same way with the Holy Spirit. At first there may be confusion over exactly what you are hearing. It is only after repeatedly listening in and then acting on what you hear that your spiritual tuner learns to discern His voice from all the other voices. Then when He speaks, you know the sound of His voice clearly.
That is what must have happened with Paul and Silas. They must have heard the Spirit telling them, “Now is not the time to defend” as they were being arrested and put in prison.
Will we be ready and listening when the Holy Spirit tells us something that might be contrary to what our natural minds might put forth as a solution? Will we be ready to remain silent when we are arrested if the Spirit isn’t prompting us to defend ourselves?
Paul and Silas were willing to wait on the LORD’s timing. Can we trust Him with the outcome?
The Arnold Journey 