Turnaround...Rising Above Your Circumstances

August 19 message by Pastor Rich Doebler

Have you ever felt trapped by your circumstances? Stuck in some difficult situation? Immobilized by problems?

Acts 16:16-26

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.

19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.

There's a story of an old dog that fell into a farmer's well. After assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the dog but decided neither the dog nor the well were worth the trouble. Instead he decided to bury the old dog in the well and put him out of his misery.

When the farmer began shoveling, initially the old dog was hysterical. But as the farmer continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back he should shake it off and step up. This he did blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself.

No matter how painful the blows or how distressing the situation seemed, the old dog fought panic and just kept shaking it off and stepping up! It was not long before the dog, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well. What seemed as though it would bury him actually benefited him—all because of the way he handled his adversity.

If we respond to problems positively, refusing to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity, the adversities that come to bury us may actually bless us! Praise is just one of the biblical ways to "shake it off and step up" out of the holes in which we get trapped.

All of us, at one time or another, have felt that life is unfair. Even little things can get us down. For some people, however, life has dealt some especially bitter blows. For them, life has seemed particularly cruel.

I've talked to people who seem to be barely hanging on. They feel overwhelmed by problems. Life has been brutal. They feel attacked. Emotionally or spiritually drained by the circumstances they find themselves in. Bruised and battered by events...

• Like the parents who never anticipated having a child with some kind of disability. The joy and excitement of the new birth was ripped away and replaced by a desperate gloom. They could never have imagined the frustrations and the sadness they now live with, facing the daily challenges of trying to raise a special needs child.
• Like others who have had to battle major illness—cancer, MS, or any number of other serious, debilitating maladies—even terminal diseases. They didn't deserve their troubles, no more than anyone, but they have to deal with them.
• Still others have to deal with a son who rebels and ends up in prison...a job that disappears, leaving mountains of debt or unpaid bills...a father who walks out and abandons his family...an unwanted pregnancy...an addiction to alcohol or drugs or gambling...a husband who becomes hateful and mean and abusive...a family reeling from a car crash that crippled—or killed...
• Huge problems can devastate us, but even little things can discourage us and wear us down. A steady trickle of irritations—like dripping water on the soil—can erode our faith or cause us to become upset and disillusioned.

Some problems are so big they're like a great white shark—one bite is all it takes to kill; other problems are like piranhas—they nibble us to death! Have you ever felt like you've swum into a school of piranhas? The bite of a small problem won't kill, but if you get enough of them coming at you relentlessly, one after the other, small problems can nibble you to death.

No matter what the trouble, no matter how big or small the problem, God wants his children to rise above their circumstances—to live life on a higher plane. In fact, problems can become the testing ground where God proves himself to his children. Paul and Silas give us a good example.

1. When you're in a prison of problems remember: God wants you to look up!

v 23 – Paul and Silas were thrown into prison. Circumstances in life can hold you captive; problems can imprison and restrict you; troubles can keep you in bondage or back you into a corner so it seems there is no way out—no solutions available.

When I visit someone in jail, it is a pretty depressing, hopeless place—going through a series of heavy, locked metal doors. They clang shut behind you. You're put into a visitor's cell—where I have felt claustrophobic. The walls close in on you. It can be suffocating. I can push a buzzer and someone will eventually come to lead me out. But there's no magic button for the prisoner to push! He's stuck there. In the same way, bad circumstances can lock us up with no hope for freedom.

v 24 – Paul and Silas were put in the "inner cell." This was "the hole"—maximum security—the most hopeless place, deep within the bowels of a place that had no hope.

If you go to Philippi in modern Greece, you can see ancient ruins of what many believe to be the prison cell that Paul and Silas were held in. http://[See picture of the Philippian jail] Kind of looks like my basement. Dank, moldy smell—and even worse due to the lack of decent toilets. Hardly any light; thick, stone walls; cold, hard floor. Leaky foundation, spiders and cobwebs, bugs. Rats and mice. After you've been beaten bloody with rods, you want to wash and bandage your wounds. You want a nice, soft mattress with comfortable, clean sheets. You want a hospital, not a prison.

v 25 – It seemed nothing was going right for Paul and Silas that day! Sure, they'd started the day off with a great spiritual victory: Through God's power, they set a young girl free from demons. But from that high point, they had come crashing down. And now they found themselves in prison, deep in the innermost cell, at midnight—it was their lowest, darkest moment.

Often in life we enjoy a high point only to experience a major setback. Life has its ups and its downs. One moment we're on the mountain-top, the next we're low in the valley. But Paul and Silas show us that we don't have to let the circumstances control us. We may be at our lowest point, but our spirits don't have to be dragged down to our circumstances. Even in prison, Paul and Silas allowed their spirits to soar! Later, Paul could write back to Phillipi:

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Phil 4:6-8)

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Col 3:2)

It's not hard to put your mind on a higher plane. You know what it's like to have your mind in another place, don't you? You're one place—but your mind is miles away. I see that happen almost every Sunday! It's like that country song: I let my mind wander, but it never came back.

When we put our minds on things above—when we focus on God—we can more easily let go of the earthly problems and troubles.

Remember last year when the Twins were in the pennant race? Even on a day when they were not playing well, you could be sitting in the stands watching them lose, when all of a sudden people around you start to clap and cheer. At first you wonder why: What in the world do they have to cheer about? And then you see it too—up on the Jumbo-tron screen they've posted scores from around the league. And the Detroit Tigers are losing, which means the Twins still have a chance—even though they're losing. It's depressing inside the Metrodome, but news from another place has given everyone hope.

In the same way, we get our hope from another place. It's not our circumstances. We must turn our spiritual sight away from our "prison" of problems. Learn to look beyond circumstances. Look to the final outcome. Look to God's promise and power.

2. When you're in a prison of problems remember: Praising God—even while you're surrounded by problems—builds faith to overcome your problems.

How do we do that? When some situation forces our backs to the wall, what is there to praise God about? How can we be overcomers when we feel trapped by circumstances or paralyzed by problems? How can we live victorious, joy-filled lives while we're stuck in the problems of life?

Two ways to increase our praise: by looking back and by looking forward. Praise him for what he's done; praise him for what he's going to do. Both will build your faith to get through your current circumstances.

Looking back: Remember what God has done in the past, so you'll have faith for the future. "Count your blessings, name them one by one..." For instance: Psalm 136.

Looking forward: Jesus was empowered to endure the cross because he could look beyond the cross to see the "joy set before him" (Heb. 12:2).

God doesn't want us controlled or manipulated by the circumstances of life. He wants us to gain the strength and the resources to overcome our problems. He wants us to see beyond our immediate physical surroundings. If you can't praise God for your problems, praise him for his promises. He wants us to see his promises—to glimpse his invisible spiritual realities.

3. If praising God can build faith, the opposite is also true. You can erode your faith and confidence in the Lord by complaining. Complaining undermines hope.

v 25 – At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns! In their darkest moment, locked up in terrible circumstances, they knew what NOT to do. They didn't gripe and complain. "Why does this always happen to me? I try to do what's right, and what do I have to show for it? Nothing but trouble and grief!" They didn't wallow in their troubles, grumbling and complaining. They praised God! They sang about God's goodness. And they prayed—they talked to God.

We don't know what they were praying about, but I suspect their prayers were different from how I would tend to pray. I'd be praying: "Oh Lord! Please get me out of this mess! Help me to escape from this prison so I can continue to do your work. I come against the devil and all his schemes. Give me victory over this terrible situation, Oh Lord, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen."

But the NT prayers have a distinctly different flavor. On other occasions when they were put in jail and/or beaten, the apostles came away praying things like: "...Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness" (Acts 4:29). Another time: "The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name" (Acts 5:41).

Could I pray like that? Have I made a commitment like that? Others are still risking so much, laying everything down to follow Jesus and take his love to others.

Last month 23 Christians from South Korea, on a humanitarian mission to show God's love in tangible ways to the poor of Afghanistan, were kidnapped by the Taliban. Two men were executed, and this last week two women were released. The fate of the remaining 19 is now being decided by the Taliban, who say negotiations have failed. They have threatened to kill them all. The reaction to this story has been disturbing. The Korean believers have been criticized for defying their governments recommendations to avoid going to an unsafe place [http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0817/p99s01-duts.html]. I've read more articles about that than articles condemning the Taliban for their attack on civilians. Since the incident Korea has passed a law that makes unauthorized travel to Afghanistan an offense punishable by a jail term [http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=100023&d=18&m=8&y=2007]. But I also read the comments of a Korean pastor, Kangen Choi, a pastor at Woon Gwang Church in Tappan, New York. He said he hoped Christians would continue to go to volatile areas like Afghanistan. He said that if foreign missionaries had not come to Korea, they would not have known about Jesus. "So many missionaries sacrificed in Korea," he said. "We have a debt. This is to return Jesus' love, Jesus' Gospel, to another country." [The Journal News, 8-18-07: http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070818/NEWS01/708180351/1028/NEWS12]

How do you pray when circumstances turn bad? Your prayers could reveal something about your trust and commitment to the Lord. Paul and Silas were praising God. It doesn't sound like they were desperate or despairing, begging God for help.

4. When you're in a prison of problems remember: God can shake your world!

v 26 – While Paul and Silas were praising God, an earthquake came! The prison was shaken to its foundation and—with all the twisting and warping—the prison doors all popped open. When you praise the Lord, he will show up in power! When God shows up, your circumstances can be shaken.

Don't surrender to your circumstances! Shake them! A heart filled with praise for God cannot imprisoned. You can't be locked up if your heart is free. Praise is the key that opens prison doors!

If you're locked up in an emotional prison...feelings shut down, emotionally numb because of abuse or shame or demeaning relationships—God can shake your world. Begin to praise him for who he is, for his love for you, for his sacrifice at Calvary that sets you free!

If you're held captive in a spiritual prison...in bondage to sin or an addiction, unable to control your own life or make your own decisions, enslaved by some substance or behavior—God can shake your world. Begin to praise him for who he is, for his love for you, for his sacrifice at Calvary that sets you free!

If you're caught in a financial prison...trapped by debt, weighed down with financial burdens and obligation—God can shake your world. Begin to praise him for who he is, for his love for you, for his sacrifice at Calvary that sets you free!

Jesus gives us "the keys of the kingdom" (16:19) to open things that are locked and set free things that are held captive. "Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." God wants to shake our world and set us free.

In fact, when we gain freedom, those around us are affected too. God sent an earthquake—specifically targeted to help Paul and Silas who were praying to him. But "everybody's chains came loose." Everybody's! Others were set free!

If your husband is abusive and has a violent temper, or if your son is drinking too much, or if your wife is popping pills, or your friend is hanging out in suggestive Internet chat rooms, you can pray for their release. But stay focused on your own weaknesses!

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted" (Gal 6:1).

And while watching yourself, praise God. Praise him for his goodness and his power—for his ability to shake your world. Because when God shakes your world he shakes others too. When he sets you free, your spouse, your friend, your child will also be affected.

A lot of people focus on the faults of others: "They need to be changed. They need the gospel. They need to be delivered." But if you focus on your own need and are set free from your own prison, those around you will be impacted. When God shakes your world, the shock waves extend to others as well.

That may mean things will get worse before they get better. Your spouse may wish you hadn't changed. They were more comfortable with the old you—and now you've shaken their world. Earthquakes are scary! Everything shakes and shifts and falls. But remember this: God is working in the shaking.

Let's praise him! If you are facing some tough situations or challenging circumstances, let's praise him all the more!