Paul is in prison, but he is filled with joy. Prisons in the ancient world were very harsh places so Paul’s joy is paradoxical. His experience seems strange, but it is not unusual in the Bible. The Psalms, for example, provide many examples of people finding joy in the midst of great hardship (E.g., Psalm 13:5; 94:19; 73:23-26 ). Here is how. It’s often in the darkest places in life that we see the light most clearly. Paul is walking with God, and he knows he is on God’s path. This path is the path which God had set before him, and, because it was God’s path, Paul knew that God’s work through him could not be thwarted. If it was his own agenda at work and if Paul was making his own path then, indeed, that might fail with imprisonment indicating that failure. But Paul isn’t making his own way through life. He is walking in God’s path and that path happened to go through a dark valley. But in the dark valley of his imprisonment, Paul sees the light all the more clearly. He knows that this is part of God’s plan and that is sufficient for him. He doesn’t need to understand why – he knows that he is on God’s path and, therefore, he knows everything will be alright despite his imprisonment. What a way to live! We get so anxious in life worrying whether we will make it through this or that situation. But if we commit ourselves to God’s path then we are on a sure thing.
Commit yourself to God’s path and ask him to guide you.
Read Philippians 1:18-30
