Bible Reading: Acts 16:19-34
Key Verse: Verse 27 – “And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.”
Key Words: and would have killed himself
I can remember it like it was yesterday: having my mother crying out with every ounce of energy she could muster, “M-i-c-h-a-e-l, get back here right now.” It seems as though Mom didn’t appreciate the fact that I had made our bathtub the new home to a dozen or so tadpoles. To say the least, she was upset, and rightly so. She explained to me in language that could be clearly understood that tadpoles were not to be a part of the Rouse family, and that I was to “never pull that little stunt again.” She was disturbed!!
But you know, there really is nothing wrong with being disturbed. In Acts 16 after Paul and Silas had prayed and sang and had an old-fashioned prayer meeting in that Philippian jail, the earth began to shake and the prison cells all shook open. Darkness prevailed in that dungeon called a prison and the guard on duty that night was disturbed. You see, he thought for sure all the prisoners had fled; and as a result, he would be tortured and then executed, so he decided to take his own life until Paul interceded. God disturbed this man and as a result, he and his family were born again.
King Hezekiah was told that he was going to die in II Kings, chapter 20. This disturbed the great king. He was so disturbed that he prayed. Evidently he prayed hard enough and righteous enough to get God’s attention and God gave him fifteen more years of life. Being disturbed caused the great king to humble himself and pray.
Now none of us like to be disturbed; but the truth is that we’ll never be motivated to action until God uses something or someone to disturb us.
The other night the phone rang—actually, it was early morning about 1:00 or so. Now, when the phone rings at that hour a hundred things begin to run through my mind…are my parents alright? What about the kids and grandkids? What about church family? Has something happened to one of the buildings? Yes, I admit it. I was disturbed. When Linda answered and I heard her say, “You’ve got the wrong number,” I breathed a sigh of relief; and then at 1:00 in the morning, I began to thank God for my parents, daughters, grandkids, my church family, and for God’s safety and blessings—all because God used an early morning phone call to disturb me.
You know, there really is nothing wrong with being disturbed!! As a matter of fact, I sometimes become disturbed that you as parents are not disturbed. I have found that parents as a whole are not disturbed about such things as their children’s behavior or lack of it. Parents aren’t disturbed about our youth and their improper uses of things such as cell phones and the internet.
Speaking of the internet, the Christian Law Association (CLA) put out the following information.
- 12% of the Internet is pornography.
- The average age of the first Internet exposure to pornography is eleven.
- 90% of all thirteen to sixteen year-olds have viewed pornography on the Internet. (This includes girls as well.)
- 80% of all fifteen to seventeen year-olds have had what is considered “hard-core” exposure on the Internet on such things as Myspace.
I hope this devotion disturbs you because it’s time for many parents to become disturbed over the sin permeating your child.
What to do:
✞ Understand that the church has become complacent and really needs to be disturbed.
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