Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God.

Then, without warning, a huge earthquake, the jailhouse tottered.

Every door flew open.

All the prisoners were loose.

This is Max Locato.

Authorities beat Paul and Silas with rods.

Soldiers then imprisoned them in the deepest part of the prison,

where it was damp and cold and rat infested.

Their feet were put in stalks,

and there they lay all afternoon and into the night,

with no local advocates, their backs open to infection, surrounded by darkness, and shivering from the cold.

Oh, to have heard that midnight song.

Paul and Silas were not sure of their deliverance, but they were sure of their deliverer.

You can be too. Rather than panic,

you can choose to praise.