NOVEMBER 11: “THANKING GOD IN YOUR WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE”

Is it possible to thank and praise God when we are in difficulties, especially when our prayers do not seem to be answered and everything seem to be going wrong? Today’s passage shows us that we can overcome our trials even through songs of praise rendered to our God in appreciation and thanksgiving for His mercies over us.

Someone gave a testimony of his experience in a kidnapper’s den. Four men had kidnapped him along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. He was blindfolded in a car and taken to a bush along Shagamu-Benin expressway. He only got to know this after he was released. He said that as soon as he was put inside the vehicle, he started singing praises to God for His mercies. They kidnappers shouted at him, slapped him and beat him several times, telling him to stop singing but he refused and kept on singing.

They took him to a bush to continue to punish him but he kept singing. He recounted that while he felt his fear disappear, his songs agitated his kidnappers. They took him to a place where he was to be used for ritual purposes, but he heard the voice of a man saying take this man away. He was thereafter, dropped off on the Shagamu-Benin expressway.

This man’s response to a dire situation is reminiscent of the experience shared by Paul and Silas in our passage for today. After being flogged and thrown into jail, they reacted by praying and singing hymns to God as the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prisons were shaken.

At once, all the prison doors were flung open and everyone’s chains broke loose.

We may not always experience a visibly dramatic rescue like Paul and Silas and the man that gave his testimony however; we know that God responds to our praises and thanksgiving prayers. When He moves, chains are broken and they fall apart.

PRAYER: My father and my God, my life is in your hand. Let me be able to thank you and praise you in my difficult times, Amen.