Acts 16:16-34 (NRSV)
Read Acts 16:16-34 on biblegateway.com
Verse 16One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. Verse 17While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." Verse 18She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. Verse 19But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. Verse 20When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews Verse 21and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." Verse 22The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. Verse 23After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Verse 24Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Verse 25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Verse 26Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. Verse 27When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. Verse 28But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." Verse 29The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Verse 30Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Verse 31They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." Verse 32They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. Verse 33At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. Verse 34He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
Devotion
The jailer’s question still dances in our minds: “What must I do to be saved?” And no matter how often I’m told to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I’m sure there must be more to it than that, at least in my case. But God’s rescue operation is as stunning and wonderful as it has been from its first utterance.
The breadth and depth of the Spirit’s action to free us from whatever bondage holds us brings both joy and wonder to our hearts. God’s redemptive power is limitless and that both frees and challenges. Life changes when God gets hold of us.
But passages such as this ought to make us a bit nervous. After all, the devastating wind of the Spirit rearranged the furniture in every life it touched. The jailer’s family was swept up by it and the young woman needed a new vocation when her fortune-telling days were terminated. The men who held her captive for their profit lost their meal ticket. Watch out! The living God is loose among us. It is both a fearful and marvelous business, being captured by grace. What do you suppose God has in store for you today?
Prayer
O God, please come just where our greatest need exists. Help us to be open to your will and imagination and grant us grace for the living of this day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.