At Midnight

We don’t have to wonder what the Israelites were doing that Passover midnight when the death angel passed over their houses. We know they sang because they kept the event alive until the day the True Passover Lamb walked the earth. And the night He was betrayed, having eaten the Passover meal, “they sung a hymn and went out.”

Samson lay in Gaza, surrounded by enemies who had locked the massive city gates, assuming they had captured their prey. But “Samson arose at midnight and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them on his shoulders…”

David, having been robbed of both honor and rank by king Saul, from the exile of a cave wrote, “At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you because of Your righteous judgments.” Paul and Silas prayed and praised at midnight, in a maximum-security prison, with bloodied backs.

Midnight is when everything seems worse – the fever, the flu, and the storm. And the same is true spiritually. But prayers and praises proclaim coming victory to all the powers of darkness who have done their worst.

The Israelites “went up” out of Egypt; the gates of Gaza were a token of the sealed tomb that could not hold Samson’s Lord; David arose from exile to be Israel’s most beloved king; and Paul and Silas understood the jailor and his family had a divine appointment with Christ.

We too are coming into our midnight hour before the Rapture. The shout will soon come to meet our Bridegroom. May He find us praying and singing the victories of our coming King.

(Devotional by Lisa Cataford)