I do so enjoy the early morning, and in particular, that time just before the sunrise. Those pre-dawn moments are so peaceful and still; it is such a lovely time of day! I wait with anxious anticipation for that golden glow in the eastern sky, then those first bronze beams of light heralding the arrival of another day! As the brilliant sun bursts over the horizon, and those golden rays of light push forth across the skies to the westward, thrusting back the darkness of night, I often think of that lovely verse in Psalm 139, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me,” (verses 9-10). I have received a lot of comfort from the thought that wherever I am in this world, and whatever circumstances I may find myself in, whether in storm or in sunshine, the God of the universe is there with me. Not only is He present wherever I may be, but His hand is holding me up and guiding me in that place! There is no place upon the earth where He is not, and likewise, there is no circumstance , dark as it may seem at the time, where His light cannot break through. Any day, and in any place, as a child of God, I can be comforted by the knowledge that the Lord is always with me, wherever I may be; whether in the deepest pit, or in the uttermost parts of the sea, “even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.”

The Apostle Paul, on his second missionary journey, once took the “wings of the morning,” as he sailed from Troas towards Macedonia. I can just imagine his ship, hoisting sail, and moving forward with the morning tide. The ship with its sails billowing in the wind, brilliant in the morning light, must have seemed like a bird in flight, with its wings spread, clawing its way forward towards the western horizon. Paul and Silas were doing the Lord’s will, traveling to Macedonia with all haste following Paul’s vision from God the previous night (Acts 16:9). Paul had seen in this vision a man of Macedonia beckoning to him, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” Obediently, Paul and his companions listened to the word of God and launched forth, making their way across the Aegean Sea with all due diligence. You might think, from the tone of the vision, that Paul and his companions would have found crowds of people at Neapolis near the Macedonian coast, anxiously awaiting Paul’s arrival; but not so. As they landed and made their way inland on the old Roman military highway to Philippi, there was virtually no notice of these bearers of the Gospel. Apparently, Philippi didn’t have enough Jewish people in residence for a synagogue, and Paul had to leave the city to find the few Jews that he could locate, a handful of women, down by a river praying. Thankfully, the Lord opened the heart of the most prominent of this company, Lydia, the seller of purple, and she became the first convert of Macedonia (Acts 16:14). But, as Paul and Silas later made their way around the market place in Philippi, they began to encounter real opposition. If a person seeks to do God’s work in this world, you can be sure that Satan will be there to oppose. In this case, the opposition was in the form of a woman possessed by a demon. This woman apparently made a living for her masters by telling fortunes and giving information which was commonly believed to be from the gods, but of course was really from the demon. She began to proclaim Paul’s presence as though she was somehow allied with his work, and Paul could not allow this to continue. There can be no alliance between the work of God and that of Satan. So he commanded the demon to leave her, which ended her ability to make money for her masters. The next thing you know, Paul and his friends were dragged before the magistrates and falsely accused by these disgruntled slave masters who were now out a good source of income. They accused Paul and his friends of troubling the city and teaching customs unlawful for Roman citizens (Acts 16: 20,21). The magistrates, apparently without exploring the matter further, had Paul and Silas beaten with rods, then turned them over to a jailer to be cast into a Roman prison.

Paul had come all the way to Macedonia to preach the Gospel, and now in very short order, Paul and Silas found themselves beaten up, and locked up securely, deep in a harsh, Roman jail! To those without faith, this situation must have appeared desperate in the extreme, and this mission to Macedonia must have appeared to have been a great mistake. Yet, though hundreds of miles from home, and secured in the inner depths of a most unpleasant prison, Paul and Silas did not despair! They realized that even in these apparently dire circumstances, the God of the universe was there with them, and His right hand was even now holding them. I believe that Paul and Silas realized that God knew everything about them. He knew their thoughts, their hearts desires, their dreams and their disappointments, and more than this, he had good things in mind for them. This same lovely truth is expressed in Psalm 139:1-6, and if you are a child of God, you know that these wonderful truths apply to you as well. Psalm 139:1-4 says, “O lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, Thou knowest it altogether”. God knows everything about us! He knows where we are, what we think, and certainly, what our situation is at any time. But, it doesn’t stop there. That same God who sees us wherever we are and knows us so thoroughly, cares for us! We read in verse 5, “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me”. This same God who knows everything about us, also guards us and guides us with His loving care! No wonder the psalmist exclaims with utter joy, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it,” (Psalm 139:6).

My dear friend, where are you just now? Are you in trouble or in danger? Are you in the dreary dungeon of sickness and loneliness, or have you been rejected by loved ones or friends? Are you far from the comfort and protection of home and family this day? Such times try the soul, do they not? You may not be in the inner recesses of a stone prison, with your feet in stocks, but you may be experiencing misery that others do not see or understand. Wherever you are, my dear friend, I assure you that the Lord knows very well what you are going through. If you are a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, then you can claim the wonderful promises of God’s Word. Wherever you are, and whatever your circumstance, the Lord has His eye on you, as we read in Psalm 34:15, “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry”. Even at the bottom of a stone prison, or in the uttermost parts of the sea, your God is with you, His hand is leading you, and His right hand is holding you.

As for Paul and Silas, despite the grim setting, and despite the pain and many indignities they were obliged to suffer this night, they were in fact exactly where God wanted them to be, and He was with them. There was to be a Gospel meeting this very evening, and the audience was to include a most unlikely participant. The jailer of Philippi was not brought up knowing anything at all about Christ, so he would not likely have been at all interested in attending any Gospel meeting. But, a Gospel meeting is precisely what the Lord had in mind for this Macedonian. Paul and Silas had been brought here with the message of life for this man in particular, but his heart must first be opened. And, the events of this night would help open that heart, that this man might receive the Gospel. It is true that the jailer would not have gone to a Gospel meeting on his own, so God brought the Gospel meeting to the jailer right there in the prison.

Now, think about this: these Gospel preachers were obliged to travel all this way, enduring such strong opposition, and all of this for the sake of ministering to one lost, ruined sinner! If you are yet unsaved, be assured that God would do no less for you. Such is God’s love for the likes of sinners. He gave His only begotten Son because of His great love for us, that whosoever would believe on Him, might be saved. We read in 1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief”.

So, how did this Gospel meeting happen? We read in Acts 16:25, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them”. From the very depths of their miserable cell, they prayed and praised! Christian, praying and praising is precisely what God would have us to be doing in our time of trial, or in times of great decision-making, and really at all times. Nothing so characterizes the child of God as that spirit of dependence as demonstrated by prayer. Why then do we often tend not to pray when in stress. I believe it is Satan’s plan to so overwhelm us by our circumstances that we decline even to pray. Remember Peter when walking on the water to meet the Lord (Matthew 14:22-31). When he took his eyes off the Lord and looked at the waves, he began to sink. Only when his hand was in the Lord’s was he raised up once again.

Paul and Silas were not overcome by their desperate circumstances, because they had come to know and trust the God who raises the dead (“But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead,” II Corinthians 1:9).

To finish the story, we read in Acts 16:26-31, “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.“ Are you yet saved? If not, I hope you notice the response of Paul to his jailer’s question as to what he must do to be saved; and it is my prayer that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ this very hour, just as this Macedonian did so long ago, and you too will be saved.

Paul and Silas had ventured far from their homes, as they sought to be obedient to the Lord’s calling; and with each step, their situation seemed to go from bad to worse, until at length, they were in what appeared to be very serious trouble, far from home. Yet, even when all seemed lost, deep within this forbidding dungeon, the Lord was with His own sure enough; and He was leading and upholding them every step of the way. Despite appearances, they were precisely in the place where God wanted them to be; and this stony jail became the very pulpit from which the Gospel of Jesus Christ went forth and touched precious souls. A Roman guard and his family were saved, and soon, there was a thriving church on European soil.

My dear Christian friend, despite your apparent circumstances, you can know the comfort of God’s presence, even in the depths of some gloomy prison, or some lonely and desolate place far from home. The Lord knows His own, and what’s more, He at all times cares for His people, so you may put your trust in this fact (“Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you,”. 1 Peter 5:7). Even if your path just now seems fraught with dark troubles, take heart–God’s intentions towards you are only ever good, as we read in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end”. May the Lord comfort your heart with the knowledge of His presence and care, whatever your situation may be.