Have you ever considered what it took for Paul and Silas to sing?
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas on a missionary journey ended up in Philippi, a Roman colony. Through a series of events, including the conversion of Lydia and the exorcism of a fortune-telling slave girl, they were seized and dragged violently before the authorities and accused of bringing a disturbance to the city. That was not something city officials wanted to have happen as a Roman colony.
“Then the mob joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had inflicted many blows on them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to keep them securely guarded. Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.” [vs 22-24 HCSB]
Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten, thrown in the darkest part of a prison, and then immobilized in stocks. Their backs were probably raw. They would have been covered in bruises and welts. Perhaps bones were even broken. The prison was dark, and damp and cold. So, what did they do? They sang.
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” [vs25 HCSB]
They sang hymns to God (probably from the Psalms) and they prayed. The other prisoners around them would have been stunned by that reaction. Even when God miraculously broke their bonds and opened the doors of the jail, they stuck around and continued to sing and pray.
What did it take for Paul and Silas to sing? Not sure I can put it in words, but I pray God grants me what they had to sing songs in the night. Amen.
