Singing in Prison

Did you know that singing can bring healing and health to the temporal lobes and maybe the deep limbic system of your brain? In a recent book by Dr. Daniel Amen called Change Your Brain Change Your Life there is considerable evidence that humming, singing and even talking can enhance the part of our brains that is responsible for mood and memory. I have a friend who says she can’t wait to get to Heaven when she’ll be able to sing with the angels since people here don’t appreciate her voice! The act itself is good for us and it can often bring us closer to God. Look at how Paul and Silas experienced that when in prison:

²³ After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown in to prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴ Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. ²⁷ 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. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” (Acts 16:23-28)

Imagine sitting in a cold, dark prison and the new guys start singing in the middle of the night. Well, you’re not really getting much sleep anyway so why not have a listen? But why are prisoners praying out loud and singing in the dark? Why does the caged bird sing, after all?

Because the alternative is to shrivel up and concede that the darkness is more powerful and allow the lie that God is not able to save and comfort to become truth in our minds. Paul and Silas chose to run to God for solace and believe the truth they’d come to know about Him, namely that He is all-powerful and all-loving and present with them, even in difficult circumstances. Joseph must have discovered something similar in prison when he was falsely accused of acting inappropriately with the wife of Pharaoh’s official, Potiphar. And Daniel had to have experienced God’s presence in the lions’ den when the angry leaders had him thrown in for praying, of all things! And I would guess that the prophet Jeremiah found comfort in God when his enemies threw him into a dry well and left him for dead because of the unpleasant messages he was speaking. How can we know that these men relied on God in their trouble? Because of what they said and how they acted when they were freed. Only time with God produces the kind of character and clarity that these followers of God modeled after their brushes with death. And in all of those cases – Old and New Testament examples – the people around them were influenced or dramatically changed because of the faith of those imprisoned.

Not surprisingly, I see some patterns in these stories that can be applied to our lives by asking a few questions about the scene that was played out.

Why were Paul and Silas in prison? There had been a slave girl with a spirit by which she predicted the future and earned a great deal of money for her owners that ran into Paul and Silas as they were out and about preaching and healing in the name of Jesus. They cast that spirit out of her when they saw that it wasn’t of God and the people went nuts, having them beaten and thrown in jail. Their imprisonment came about because of their obedience to God’s call on their lives. Seasons of darkness are sometimes caused by our disobedience, but sometimes they come when we are doing everything right. And God’s timing and plan are always perfect.

How did Paul and Silas respond to their circumstances? They were praying and singing. Their focus was on God, not their situation. They chose hope over despair and faith over fear. In Bill Hybel’s book, Too Busy Not to Pray, he says that the key to prayer that builds our faith is to focus not on the mountain that needs moving, but on the mountain-mover Himself. If we discipline ourselves to focus on God and His character instead of our circumstances or our pain, we will be more likely to connect the dots when He actually answers our prayer.

What happened when they prayed? The first question I wrote in my journal when I read this passage was, “What were they praying for?” Could Paul and Silas have possibly been praying for what eventually happened? How could they have even imagined this outcome?! But they put themselves in a position to hear from God, to be comforted by Him, and to see Him do whatever He was going to do, and then did He ever deliver! Earthquake, doors flying open, prisoners’ chains coming undone, the jailer falling to his knees wanting to be saved… what?! Even if Paul and Silas didn’t expect God to show up exactly like this, there was no doubt that He was acting since there was no other possible explanation. When we pray in the darkness, even when we don’t know exactly what to pray for, we can expect something and be ready for anything.

As I looked back over times in my life that were particularly trying, I tried to lay these filters over my circumstances to see how they applied in my life. What did I do in those times when life fell apart? And did God show up?

I begged. There were many times when my prayers weren’t eloquent – or even comprehensible. They consisted of “Pleeeeeez…” when waiting for blood test results for my son during his cancer treatment. I relied heavily on Romans 8:26 when my marriage was falling apart: “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” My guttural prayers were certainly in that category.

I asked, “What are you showing me?” That question became its own prayer in hard times as I desperately searched for meaning in my suffering and wanted so badly to please God and become more like him – especially if it meant this hard lesson could be over! No joke.

I relied on what I knew was true. We don’t have to believe every thought that comes in our heads and it’s wise not to, especially when wild emotions and circumstances are involved. Memorizing key Scriptures when life is going well is crucial to having a foundation to fall back on when it’s not. Even when I didn’t feel it, I told myself over and over that God did, in fact, want what was best for me and the He was, in fact, in control of my circumstances. I willed myself to believe what was true, not what I felt. That was huge.

I would never choose the most difficult periods of my life over comfort and unadulterated joy, but in retrospect, I can fully embrace them and be thankful because I now know God more deeply than I would if life had been easy. And the people around me have been changed along with me because of those times. That’s not coincidence; it’s how God operates. Yes, Paul and Silas were freed from their chains, but God’s plan included the jailer and his family, too. Yes, Joseph got out of prison by interpreting the Pharaoh’s dream, but God’s plan included all of Jacob’s children and the entire nation of Israel, ultimately. People are watching us in dark times and the result of trusting God and focusing on Him in that darkness has an impact on those around us. We can pray like Elijah, before King Ahab and prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel: “Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:37) That, I’m convinced, is one of His favorite prayers.

• What Scripture do you rely upon in hard times? When did you first discover its comfort and relevance? How has God used that Scripture in your life since then? If you don’t have places in the Bible that you turn to in hard times, do a search and memorize one or more verses for future reference.

• Read more of the story. Expand on today’s lesson by going to Acts 16:16-40 and reading the context surrounding Paul and Silas’ imprisonment. Where do you see yourself in this story? Did you have a dramatic conversion experience when you first came into a relationship with Christ? Have you seen God show up in unexplainable ways when you were crying out to Him in prayer or song? Spend some time praying over this passage and asking God to reveal something new about Himself and your relationship with Him.