When Right is Wrong

I love the account of Paul and Silas singing at midnight in the inner prison when the earthquake frees their bonds (Acts 16:25-34).

Then, released by the word of the magistrates, they refuse to leave the prison secretly even after this miraculous event. They knew that this "right" to leave was "wrong", claiming that their public imprisonment and beating demanded a public release. They required the magistrates to come in person to let them go (Acts 16:35-40).

It takes faith to resist a favorable right when the conditions are wrong.

It is noteworthy that the reason they were in prison in the first place also speaks to this lesson.

The slave girl with a spirit of divination cried out, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation" (Acts 16:16). This is an indisputable truth. And it is right.

But Paul rebuked the spirit out of which she spoke.

He rejected the favorable right because the conditions were wrong. It was not fitting that the source of truth (the spirit) was the deceiver. And Paul was dragged to the authorities and wrongly accused, beaten, and imprisoned.

Eventually, God got the glory.

We should be so full of faith as to be willing to reject the favorable right and to wait, patiently and in joy, for the proper solution as God moves, with His earth-shaking force, in favor of fully-right.

We may be tempted to enjoy the praise in our ears from an ill source, or to complain when falsely accused, or to stomp out of a difficult situation with a chip on our shoulder because the whole injustice wasn't accounted for - but a steady, trusting confidence in Our Maker-Redeemer is the only right that ends in right, bringing glory to Our God.