By: Steve Wilmot
Unhealthy, negative emotions are commonplace in today’s world. No one is immune, whether it’s worry, stress, depression, loneliness, boredom, rejection, inadequacy, insecurity, inferiority, anger, isolation, worthlessness, hopelessness, or something else.
The ways we try to cope with these harmful emotions are legion — pills, illegal drugs, alcohol, binge eating, withdrawal, staying in bed, compulsive shopping, denial, and more.
The bad news, as we know only too well, is that these “solutions” don’t work. They don’t lift our spirits or make us feel better. At best, they bring temporary relief, like a flickering light at the end of the tunnel that stirs hope that an end is finally in sight, only to have the light snuffed out and everything fade to black again.
There must be a better way. A solution that works. That exchanges our unhealthy emotions with joy and peace, and hope. Thank God, there is.
Paul and Silas were not in a good place. They arrived in Philippi as their first stop on their second journey to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. They’d only been in the Greek city for a few days when they were arrested.
The officer in charge ordered them stripped and severely flogged. Bloody and in great pain, they were thrown in the inner cell at the jail, and their feet were fastened in stocks.
If this happened to you, how would you feel emotionally? If you’re unfamiliar with their story, you’ll probably be shocked at their reaction.
“About midnight…” They probably couldn’t sleep because of the pain wracking their bodies. And you might reasonably assume their inability to sleep arose from their uncertainty about what awaited them in the morning. But you’d be wrong.
“About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16.25). What? Are you kidding me? Why aren’t they mad at God for letting it happen? He could have prevented it, but he didn’t. They were in Philippi doing God’s work. This wasn’t in their job description.
But instead of anger, anxiety, or depression taking hold, they prayed and sang hymns to God. How we respond to negative episodes is up to us.
Paul and Silas had no control over what happened to them, just like we don’t. But they could control their reaction to it, just like we can. They chose to pray and sing praises to God. What do you choose to do?
Does it ever cross your mind when you’re trapped deep in a pit of depression to pray and sing a few praise choruses? When you’re worried that the worst-case scenario is positioned to happen to you and your family. When you feel alone and rejected and unprotected.
Why was Paul and Silas’ response so opposite to what anyone would have expected? The jailer and long-term prison population were used to hearing fellow prisoners moan and cry, or shout and make threats, as the normal reaction. But songs and prayers? Never.
What was there in their circumstances that caused them to break out into a praise and worship service? It wasn’t their circumstances. Those were awful and potentially going to get worse.
No, they weren’t happy about the beating or imprisonment. Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God because they knew God, and they remembered what he was like, and how he’d never let them down before.
“I will sing to the Lord, for [here is the reason to sing] he has been good to me” (Psalm 13.6). “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For [here are the reasons] the Lord [a] is good and [b] his love endures forever; [c] his faithfulness continues through all generations (Psalm 100.4-5).
Maybe these psalms were among the hymns they sang that night in prison. Their prayers weren’t pleas for deliverance from prison; they were words of thanksgiving and praise.
Rather than allow their situation to sap their energy, steal their joy and peace, and drive them deeper into an abyss of unhealthy emotions, Paul and Silas chose to remember God. Chose.
They chose to thank God for his faithfulness to them, their whole lives long. They chose to praise him for his enduring love for them. Their praise reminded them how God had always been good to them… even in negative circumstances like the one they were in.
What you do when unhealthy emotions invade and want to take you captive is up to you. You can decide to give in to those emotions, or you can choose to raise your voice in song and prayer to the God who loves you more than you imagine and will never leave you nor forsake you, even through the darkest valleys.
It’s up to you which option you take. As Aaron Michael Hall said, “Choice predicts outcome. Choose wisely.” Guaranteed, your wisest choice is prayer and praise.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.