Friday: Mastery of Prison Idleness
WEEK 43
FRIDAY
MASTERY OF PRISON IDLENESS
Daniel 6:10-13
We have seen the mastery of two idlenesses; and now we look at a third, this time an unchosen idleness—the idleness of imprisonment. In prison Paul could say, “Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the things that have happened to me have actually advanced the gospel” (Phil 1:12). His imprisonment really did advance the gospel, far beyond his immediate conception, for he says, “Most of the brothers and sisters have had more confidence through the Lord to speak the word boldly and bravely because of my jail time” (v. 14). But a far greater result than inspiring the brothers and sisters to preach more boldly came out of Paul’s imprisonment: his deathless epistles. They have touched the ages and still mold our thinking and acting.
Paul might have chafed at the seeming lack of providence on the part of God, a providence that allowed injustice to prevail and to lock him behind bars. There he was shut off from his beloved preaching. But one of the best things that ever happened was to stop Paul from preaching and to get him to writing. His preaching might have died with him. But his epistles live on. So when his sight was cut off by prison walls, his insight deepened; he poured this deepened insight into immortal literature. God’s blocks were blessings. God blocked him here to make him break out there.
When we are in God’s will, we may be blocked on a certain level, but only for God to shift the gears to put us on a higher level. All God’s downs are ups if we know how to use them. Everything is favorable to the Christian if we stay in God’s will, for being in God’s will is the victory. No one is defeated if in God’s will, no matter what happens around him or her. God’s allowing Paul to be imprisoned was really God’s method of freeing Paul. For in his epistles, written in prison, he has roamed the centuries free to bless and guide. The enforced idleness was a reinforced effectiveness. Christians don’t bear frustrations; we use them, turning frustrations into fruitfulness. Blank walls turn into open doors into victory.
O Lord, I thank you that walls need not be my worries. The only thing that matters is the spirit behind those walls. Give me the spirit that roams the earth free. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: All my blockings today shall become diversions to higher usefulness.