Acts 16:19-25

Life is full of “pit of the stomach” moments. The pit of our stomachs is where most of us feel a physical response to a very strong emotion. Some have described it as heaviness, weight or a sinking feeling in the pit of our stomach. Emotions of fear, stress, and anxiety produce especially strong feelings. I am sure that each of us has different moments in our lives that we can remember producing that heaviness within us.

When the owners of the slave girl seized Paul and Silas, they must have experienced just such a moment. Luke does not tell us what they were feeling or thinking. However, they were human and a natural human response would involve anxiety and fear. Having people lay hands on you, not in prayer or love, but with the intention of violence, is emotional, and it is stressful. Standing before a judge is stressful, (even when it is only traffic court).

Once the crowd had beaten them, they would have also been experiencing physical pain to go along with their emotional stress. When the authorities locked them in prison it did not relieve or lessen any of their anxiety, stress or fear. Instead, it would have only made it worse, because now they did not know what would happen in the morning.

Paul and Silas could have chosen to make it worse by imagining every bad thing that could happen. They could have attempted to go numb by being stoic. However, being stoic also cuts us off from good feelings like hope and love. Instead, they chose to talk to God and to sing His praises. Their relationship with God was bigger than their fear or anxiety. The more they sang and prayed the more the Holy Spirit filled their hearts with joy. A Spirit-filled heart drives out fear and anxiety.

Christians cannot avoid fear and anxiety producing moments; that is life. We can choose how we respond to them. We can drive out anxiety with prayer and praise.