Acts 16:25-30 -- On Miracles for Other People

"And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
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?"
Acts 16:25-30


This is an interesting miracle where Paul and Silas were in prison, and their feet were in stocks, and then suddenly they were free, and the doors were opened.  ... and, were I in prison, and praying at that moment, I think I probably would have been like, okay, this is a definite sign.  Earthquake alone might open all the doors, but for these stocks to be loosed, that seems like clear divine intervention.  ... And so it was, of course, but nobody ran, and Paul's concern was with saving the jailer and assuring him that the prisoners were still there.

It was still truly a miracle, but not the one I selfishly would have assumed it was.  Rather, it helped the jailer and his whole household to be converted.  And maybe the message to us here is that God works in mysterious ways, and we should think of other people before ourselves, even in the most trying situations.  ... In fact, perhaps if we are focused on how we can help others, our situations become easier to bear, and we find that (like Joseph in Egypt, or Esther), God has actually placed us a difficult situation "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14).

Today, before we complain about our situation, let's look around and see if God has placed us here to help someone else.  Sometimes there isn't anything immediate that we can do, but later the experience helps us to assist others who are going through something similar.  Let's work with God to find the meaning behind the miracles, remembering that often it really isn't about us. :)