Unstopped by Trials

5/23/25 Bible Thought (Acts 16)

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Paul went back.

One of the things that amazes me again and again as I read through the stories of the great apostle’s life is his incredible resolve.

The other day, we had seen on Paul’s first missionary journey that his initial trip to Lystra didn’t turn out so good. It was there that he was dragged out of the city, stoned, and left for dead. Yet, Paul returned to strengthen the disciples shortly thereafter. Now, on his second missionary journey, Paul returns there once more! (Acts 16:1).

Interestingly enough, Lystra was the hometown of a young man named Timothy—the same Timothy who became Paul’s co-laborer in ministry and a spiritual son to him, the one to whom 1-2 Timothy were written.

This Timothy now joined the missionary group of Paul, Silas, and Luke on their travels. Through divine guidance, they find themselves in the city of Philippi (the letter of Philippians was later written to the church in this city).

Here, after delivering a slave girl of a demonic spirit, Paul and Silas are beaten and imprisoned with their feet in stocks (Acts 16:22-24).

Scholar, Clinton Arnold, describes their time in the stocks as follows,

“The bar pressed tightly on the legs and made it impossible for the prisoners to shift positions to avoid discomfort. Sleep was only possible through laying or sitting on the floor. The stocks were not only a security measure, but were also a form of torture.”^[1]

This was a time that rightfully deserved complaint, and a lot of it. Right?

They were faithful to go where the Holy Spirit led them, and this is what they got in return?! I can imagine if I had been in that jail cell that I would’ve wished I’d never have got on the boat to Philippi.

Yet, their response wasn’t complaint, but praise. It wasn’t wallowing in self-pity but boasting in God’s glory. For they were, “praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:25).

In stocks. In terrible pain from an earlier beating. Uncomfortable and unable to move well. Utterly humiliated. Yet, filled with gladness and praise.

The story ends with a miraculous jailbreak, and a jailer ready to commit suicide. Yet, when God busted the jail open, Paul and Silas weren’t quick to escape but instead were quick to evangelize.

The frightened jailer recognized these guys knew the true and living God, and the story ends with the salvation and baptism of the jailer and his household.

I often wonder how this all would’ve turned out if Paul had responded differently.

If he never went back to Lystra out of fear for his life, what would’ve happened to Timothy? Or if they responded differently in prison, would the jail still have broken open? Or if they had quickly escaped for fear of their own lives would the jailer have taken his?

Paul’s response to trials ought not only to inspire us but have us consider how God uses those things for His glory and our good. Paul was a man with conviction, as he would later write,

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:28-29).

God is at work, even in the trials of our lives for His glory and our good.

Our greatest good is conformity to the image of Jesus, becoming more like Him. Certainly, we can’t become more like Christ without at least a little hardship in our lives, look at the suffering He went through!

So, as we go through this life and at times things don’t go well, or according to our plan, let’s trust and believe that God’s plans are greater than ours.

Maybe, just maybe, He has something planned that will only come through the hardship and our proper response to it.

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^[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Acts, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, vol. 2B of Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 160–161.