Seasons Of The LordSample

Prison Songs

“At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” —Acts 16:25

The power of song to charm the hearts of the most sullen is well-known. One who believed in the fascination of music once said, “Give me the making of the nation’s songs, and I care not who makes its laws.” Hilaire Belloc, an English writer who died in 1953, would have us know, “It is the best of all trades, to make songs, and the second best to sing them.” Songs have led crusades, won battles, and molded the character of nations. 

The song Paul and Silas sang at the midnight hour resulted in the manifestation of divine power and in the transformation of lives. The prayers and praises of Paul and Silas must be taken together, because, as an unknown author wrote, "Prayers and praises go together; he hath praises that hath prayers."

What a charming influence that apostolic singing had; the prisoners heard them. This trifling fact has a deeper meaning than a mere casual hearing. In spite of their bleeding backs, confinement in a filthy prison, and the late hour, Paul and Silas could sing, and their victorious gladness in spite of adverse circumstances caused the other prisoners to listen most attentively, for what they heard was the voice of God. 

It is quite easy to be happy in pleasant circumstances when life is sunny and bright, but to sing in a dungeon when all is bleak and dark is a miracle. To be sorrowful yet always rejoicing is a special gift and grace of the Spirit. General William Booth once said that God was so well pleased with the praises of Paul and Silas that He said, “Amen! with a mighty earthquake.” In the conversion of the jailer, the singing produced a spiritual earthquake. Is yours the singing heart?