13th Sep 26 | 04:00
Studies by Book
The ways of God
📖 Acts 16:22-24
Acts 16 - Series 04/Episode 22 - Fri 07th Aug 2026 - The ways of God - Acts 16:16-40 - EXPERIENCES AT PHILIPPI - Job 42:02-06
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Acts 16:22-24 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. (23) And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. (24) Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The jailor carried out the command that had been given to him, which was to keep the apostles securely. His action of securing the apostles was to put them into the inner prison and fasten their feet to the stocks.
The magistrates thought they had inflicted the maximum punishment on Paul and Silas for their alleged crime. They now needed to complete what they had started. The jailor too cooperated with them in inflicting the maximum punishment/security possible for the worst of criminals.
Total restraint was placed on the apostles by placing their feet in the stocks. They could not move or shift position. This was a severe punishment after being stripped and beaten with rods in public. They were now being further humiliated by being treated as dangerous criminals and therefore placed in maximum security conditions.
These are things that cause us to ask the Lord, "Why?" Job's cry of "Why?" runs through the book like a lamenting thread. He asks it repeatedly, urgently, and honestly. Job 3:11-12 "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? (12) Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? / Job 7:20-21 Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself? / Job 10:2-3 I will say to God, 'Do not condemn me; Show me why You contend with me. (3) Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, That You should despise the work of Your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked?
The Lord did not explain to Job why he suffered. The Lord did not tell him about Satan. Job never hears about the heavenly conversation in Job 1-2. God does not reveal the "why" of the test. This is deliberate. We are spectators of the conversation between God and Satan. After having read and understood the entire experience of Job, we ought to be in a better position to embrace suffering.
Instead of explaining the reason, God reveals His nature, His wisdom, and His sovereignty. God's answer to Job is in Job 38-41. God does not evade the question "Why?" God reveals Himself. God shifts Job and all of us from the question, "Why is this happening to me?" to "Who is the God who holds all things together?" Suffering is placed inside the vastness of God's character.
God shows Job that His governance is wise, purposeful, and beyond human calculation. God governs creation with precision. God cares for creatures Job never sees or knows about. God manages chaos (Behemoth, Leviathan). God is never negligent, never unjust.
The message for all of us is, *"You can trust My character even when you cannot trace My reasons."
Job's response shows that he understood the real answer from God. Job 42:2-6 "I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. (3) You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. (4) Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, 'I will question you, and you shall answer Me.' (5) "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. (6) Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes."
Job's reply tells us that he now knew that God is the one who does all things. None of God's plans is hindered or prevented. Job had spoken of things that he did not understand, things that were too wonderful for him. Job had heard of God, but he now had a revelation of God. He therefore repented in dust and ashes.
"Why did Job have to repent? What sin had he committed?" Job had to repent because he was not seeing God but was only looking at his circumstances. Don't we all need to repent before God? We, too, are so immersed in our circumstances that we cannot see God. Job moved from confusion to worship, from pain to surrender, from questions to trust because he repented and returned to God.
God's presence is a better answer to suffering than God's explanation. If God had explained to Job the reason for the suffering, then Job's comfort would depend on information. But now God gave Job Himself. Job's comfort now depended on his relationship with God.
Paul and Silas were already at the place where they rested in the presence of God in the context of unjust, severe and humiliating suffering. The Lord was setting things up for His great purposes.
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