It couldn’t get a whole lot worse. For the “crime” of practicing Christian healing in accordance with the teachings of Christ Jesus, and in the presence of a violent mob, they’d been arrested, beaten, and thrown into an inner dungeon, where their feet were locked into stocks. These weren’t characters in a fictional adventure story. Paul and Silas, the two early Christians going through this extreme experience, were real people. 

The Bible reports that their response was to pray and praise God. As a result of their prayer, not only were they freed from the prison, but the jailor and his family readily accepted Christianity (see Acts 16:16–34). The story is a wonderful example of the power of Christ, the true idea of God, to heal and save each one of us.

Putting ourselves in their shoes, we might ask how we would have dealt with this situation. Would we have had the capacity to do the same? Yes! 

Paul and Silas were extraordinary individuals, but their ability to face this situation wasn’t simply a result of their personal courage and fortitude. They had something far superior—something that is actually available to all of us. That something is seen in an important detail in the account of their ordeal: The Bible reports that they prayed and praised God at midnight.

Why midnight? Why wait? In fact, knowing what we know of Paul from his extensive writings in the Bible, it would have been likely that he and Silas, his chosen traveling companion, were praying deeply the entire time. But that prayer didn’t prevent them from being arrested. It didn’t stop them from being beaten. And it didn’t keep them from being thrown into a dungeon. At the point at which their feet were being locked into the stocks, perhaps it was tempting for them to wonder if all that prayer was having any effect at all. Some in their position might have been thinking about giving up, thinking that maybe God had abandoned them, and wondering if they were praying wrong.

It’s possible, however, that “midnight” referred less to a particular time on the clock
and more to the temptation to feel the discouragement and despair, the deepest darkness, that would weigh heavily on many, if not most, people in such a situation. Many of us have hit a point that felt like rock bottom, a “midnight”—darkest hour—moment. At such times, we can learn from Paul and Silas. They didn’t give up or lose faith. Instead, they prayed and sang praises to God so loudly that the other prisoners heard them. That is, they praised the very Being who, at that moment, might have seemed very distant and uncaring.

Such praise is not about persuading God to help us. He helps us regardless—He is Love itself and loves us unchangingly, forever. They didn’t, and we never do, need to catch His ear. We are forever embraced in His care. God is the only cause and creator, and everything He created is, like Him, totally good. 

In reality, God’s allness excludes evil. But evil can look and feel very real to us, even as a night dream can feel very real, until we consciously turn to Christ, Truth, to lift our thought above that false sense. Christ reveals that we’re not matter-based mortals. Our true being as the image and likeness of God, Spirit, (see Genesis 1:26, 27) is wholly spiritual. So it’s entirely natural for us to see and feel God’s presence and power.

To praise God is to lift our thought to that true understanding by acknowledging who and what He is. The Leader of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, “In Christian Science the midnight hour will always be the bridal hour, until ‘no night is there.’ . . .

“Out of the gloom comes the glory of our Lord, and His divine Love is found in affliction” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 276).

Praise is not about persuading God to help us. He helps us regardless—He is Love itself and loves us unchangingly, forever.

Paul and Silas gained the understanding that lifted them out of that particular midnight by following the words and works of Christ Jesus. Mrs. Eddy followed the same teacher. As a deep student of the Bible, she learned how to apply the spiritual laws Jesus taught in the same way Paul and Silas did. And she gave what she learned to the world through her writings, in particular, the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

For many decades, the pages of this magazine and its sister publications, The Christian Science Journal and The Herald of Christian Science, have been publishing testimonies proving the effectiveness of these teachings. Account after healing account tells how individuals turned from the effects of a so-called material law of disease, malice, injury, anger, loss, lack, or even death to the law of Love, which shows that even in our darkest, most difficult times, our heavenly Father-Mother’s deep and tender love is there for us.

The understanding that saved Paul and Silas is available to all through the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings. We invite you to join with us in finding healing right in the middle of “midnight moments” by praising God—understanding the ever-present action of His power and love.

Lisa Rennie Sytsma, Associate Editor