Mad

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

MAD

Acts 16:19-24

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.

NIV

It is rather amazing how people are more concerned about making money than about seeing someone free from being possessed by an evil spirit. But what is such a travesty is they were so angry they retaliated making up false charges and even became physically abusive to Paul and Silas. Why would the crowd join in this abusiveness? It might be understandable the men who owned this slave girl were upset about having their source of income dry up in an instant because of Paul and Silas, but why the crowd. The crowd were the payees in this case, not the one getting paid. But it does show the human condition or the bent toward evil of the human heart. Rather than stand with Paul and Silas, rather than praise God for the miracle they just witnessed, they became violent. Is there a life lesson for us in this? Is it possible that we too have that kind of ability to bend toward anger and if not physical, an emotional or mental violence against that which is right? Can we be guilty of rebellion against what God is doing? Certainly there can be times when God causes an uproar within. When God is doing a work within us, we might not like all that he is doing because we are wanting to have things the way we like them, what we are accustom to, what we accept and practice. Now it also could be a lesson about how the world views us, and the anger and violence that is possible if, of course, we were actually out there sharing the gospel in such a forceful way as Paul and Silas did, even to the point of freeing some from evil spirits. But we tell the story of God’s love, and how great our church is and that is about it. Sometimes it seems we do not want to be offensive by using the name of Jesus Christ by which they can be saved. Perhaps if we were standing in the square on a soap box of sorts proclaiming their sinful state and need of Jesus Christ, we might get some abusive behavior toward us. In fact, Christianity has in some sense been dragged before a judge and it has to a certain sense been thrown in jail, being kept from the public square, public schools and such. This event in acts could be applied in all those ways, but we need to make sure we are not the ones upset about what God might do in our lives. We have to make sure we are not guilty of being mad.