Be Still And Know

Philippians 1.12-13 NLT 'And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ.' My chief memory of prison visits is the keys and the slamming of doors and I am sure that would have been just the same in Paul’s day. The lack of liberty must be terrible, and we have every reason to think that Paul’s years of incarceration would have been a degrading experience. But Paul has no time for moaning! He reflects that his time in prison has actually enabled the Good News of Jesus to be spread. Even the palace guard recognised that he was in prison because of his faith in Christ. Paul’s various times in prison must have been desperately hard to bear, but he focuses on the fact that God has still been able to use him to spread the Good News. This reminds me of Joseph’s experience in the Old Testament. His brothers hated him so much that the