“Bad Day” is the title of Daniel Powter’s song from 2005. Kind of a depressing ditty. First, a question: Where is the passion when you need it the most? Then the song laments: You kick up the leaves and the magic is gone. Passion? Magic? The song sadly admits there’s no such thing as perpetual, everlasting joy. The fact you had a bad day proves it.
Famous author and atheist H.G. Wells once said, “Man, who began in a cave behind a windbreak, will end in the disease-soaked ruins of a slum.” Wells takes a bad day and turns it into a bad lifetime. Planning a birthday party for a friend? Don’t invite H.G. Wells. He’d make everyone feel life was a perpetual root canal procedure.
The apostle Paul and Silas went through a bad day once. All because they rescued a slave-girl from her masters. Bad move—should have left her enslaved. Acts 16:22-23 graphically describes the reaction of the crowd: “The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their (Paul and Silas) robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”
Stripped naked, beaten with clubs, thrown into prison, put into stocks. Not a recipe for a good day. Passion gone. Magic gone. Joy gone. Powter could have made Paul and Silas characters in his song.
But not according to Paul and Silas! Verse 25 wonderfully describes the reaction of these two Believers: “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”
Focus on the other prisoners a moment. Their jaws are likely dropping like spilt milk to the prison floor as they observe these two odd prisoners. They’re praising and worshiping God! Why aren’t they cussing out the jailer? Why aren’t they bemoaning their situation?
Hopefully, the fellow prisoners were wondering what the secret to their joy was. From what ice cream truck do these two men get their dilly bars?
Paul and Silas were worshiping and praising God because they knew, as Believers in Christ, their names were written in the Book of Life. Ponder this metaphor: One mile represents your entire existence. So, let’s say your 80 years here on earth is equal to 16th of an inch. That means 1,013, 759 sixteenths of your existence occurs in the next phase of your life—your eternal life.
Of course, the metaphor breaks down because eternity is forever. Your actual existence, after 80 or so years here on earth, is endless. Forever. Longer than it takes a three-toed sloth to count all its toes.
That’s why it’s vital we have our names forever stamped into God’s Book of Life. Knowing that after 80 or so years in this life, we will be enjoying countless years with Him in our next life should fill us with indestructible joy. Having our minds and hearts set on the truth of our eternal lives removes the circumstances of our earthly lives from the primary position.
That’s a significant difference from how the rest of the world lives. Circumstances rule the non-Believer’s life. Since this is the only life he knows about, the only life he cares about, he’s forced to keep his circumstances in primary position.
That means every day, when bad circumstances hit his life, he can only mutter lines like, “Where’s the joy when I need it most?” Or “Where has the magic gone?”
Year after year, he gets beat down more and more. H.G. Wells’ atheistic words become his truth. All he can look forward to is ending his life in ‘the disease-soaked ruins of a slum.”
Those who trust in Christ have a different viewpoint. It’s a viewpoint steeped in unshakable joy. The vision of their eternal future with Him never fades from sight. Then, like Paul and Silas, they can praise and sing regardless of the circumstances.