For doing no more than obeying God's direction, Paul and Silas were beaten with many stripes and cast into the inner prison at Philippi with their feet bound firmly in the stocks. Consider for a moment what an uncomfortable position it would be to have the flesh on your back made raw and bloody from severe beating, and to have your ankles chaffed with iron stocks, while you sat on the floor of a dark, lonely dungeon, wide awake at midnight. All this would be compounded by the fact that you were surrounded with some of the most vile and unprincipled characters on the earth. Normally speaking, one would think that there would not be much singing and praying going on at such a time, yet that was exactly what Paul and Silas were doing. 

    The secret of their happiness on this occasion is well expressed by John Newton in the song, "How Tedious And Tasteless The Hours." He says, "While blest with a sense of His love, A palace a toy would appear; And prisons would palaces prove, If Jesus would dwell with me there." The key to being completely reconciled to the will of the Lord, no matter what our outward circumstances may be, lies in having the felt presence of the Lord. If we have that, nothing else matters. Again, to use the words of Newton, "It soothes (our) sorrows, heals (our) wounds, And drives away (our) fears." Many of the martyred saints of old, even while tied to the stake and with flames licking at their flesh, have been blest to breathe out their lives in joyful praise to the Lord. 

    None of us know what lies ahead for us in this world, but of this one thing we may be assured,---no matter what we may have to endure, if the Lord abides feelingly near us we will be able to face it in a way that becomes those who profess godliness. Paul and Silas were in the way of duty when they were persecuted, and thus their consciences were clear. This alone is a great help to God's people in their times of trial, but when they can also enjoy the Lord's felt presence they too can pray and sing praises no matter how dark their outward circumstances may be.