Midnight Moments

The house I grew up in was nestled among trees of oak, dogwood and pine. Much of my childhood was spent running around those woods, as well as a quarter-mile stretch of dirt road that cut through them, connecting our home with my grandmother’s. As a kid, there were times late at night, in fits of bravery, I would set out from our house and determine to walk down this road to my grandmother’s house for no reason whatsoever other than just doing it. There always came a point along that road where the porch lights of our home would be engulfed by the darkness of the woods, and I would be walking in near complete darkness. It was then that my hearing seemed to be sharpened, and every noise from among the trees would be magnified. The darkness seemed to close around me as fear would take over all my senses. Squirrels were constantly my menace! How can something so small sound like something large running through the leaves?! My imagination conjured up someone or something heading right for me. In these moments, I would get this immediate burst of adrenaline and would take off running back toward the direction of our house. A feeling I can distinctly remember was that, even if the house was not fully in view, the moment I would see the familiar and warm yellow glow of the pre-LED lights, I felt safe. Before I even entered the front door, just the fact that I was now within the light gave me comfort. The comfort became even more real as soon as the screen door was closed and latched behind me, keeping the darkness out there with the trees and shadows. To truly appreciate and know the light, one sometimes must first face the darkest hours. 

Perhaps you’ve had moments like this or still do. Darkness can be unsettling. It represents the unknown: what we can’t see, predict or control. In the absence of light, our senses strain to fill the gaps, and imagination often takes over, projecting fears or uncertainties we might otherwise suppress. This reality makes it a relatable analogy, which you often find used in literature or poetry. Authors often use darkness as a way to describe emotions, feelings or even situations. In many instances, the concept of midnight is used symbolically to speak of the darkest hours of night, or the darkest hours of life, or “midnight moments” as I call them. Those circumstances where hope feels distant, all the voices around and all the voices within are telling you it’s not worth it, and you’re tempted to believe that the light of dawn will never come. These moments are, more than anything else, moments of decision. In the face of the darkness, you and I can decide to stop moving forward. Or despite the darkness, you and I can decide to keep moving forward in it by submitting to God’s help and His light. 

The word midnight simply means “the middle of the night,” but there is another way to view midnight. It’s the time when darkness reaches its deepest point, before yielding to the promise of a coming dawn. It is in this sense that I invite you to consider midnight. Not everything is bad or dark, of course. However, whether it’s our external circumstances or our internal thoughts and emotions, somewhere between the fact of darkness and the hope of light is where we are and who we are. 

Acts 16 tells of a midnight moment for the apostle Paul. He and Silas are joined by Timothy and Luke as they travel to Philippi. Along this journey, they encounter a young women possessed with a spirit of divination, “. . . who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling” (verse 16). Paul frees this girl from the evil influence, yet the men who profited from her fortune-telling felt no joy at a fellow human’s restoration to health. Rather, they saw their hope of profit slip away! As a result, they seize Paul and Silas, dragging them before the magistrates, saying, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe” (Acts 16:20-21). The multitude arose, tore off the clothes of Paul and Silas, beat them with rods and threw them into prison, fastening their feet in the stocks. There Paul and Silas are, clothes torn off, laying in prison, beaten, bloodied and chained. A dark hour indeed. A midnight moment. 

Have you had any, “Is all of this really worth it?” moments? I have! That’s not where Paul and Silas were, though. What was their response? “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:25). You and I are to be the sort of people who pray at midnight. You and I are to be the sort of people who sing at midnight. Within the text of the Bible, prayer and singing are often spoken of together. After all, what is the book of Psalms? Is it not a collection of songs, which are prayers? Singing hymns might not be something we think of much through the week, but it’s not only for church! 

Let’s return for a moment to my midnight childhood adventures down that road. As time passed, and more attempts like this were made, I began to discover a curious and effective thing. If I sang some of the encouraging hymns from our hymnal, or if I prayed out loud, I could muster up the courage to make it all the way down to my grandmother’s house and back up the road to our house. If you are singing, you can’t hear the noises in the dark. If you are praying, you can’t hear the noises of your fearful thoughts. For me, it interestingly had the same effect as stepping into the light of the porch lights. I felt like I had light with me as I walked in the darkness. 

The apostle James writes: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms” (James 5:13). The word used for suffering carries the idea of experiencing painful hardship, especially in a way that tests endurance. It’s not just about pain—it’s about persevering through the difficulty with purpose. Sometimes brokenness is the road to breakthrough. What does James say should be the response to this hardship? Let him pray! 

The use of the word cheerful can on the surface seem misleading. The Greek word used does not speak of a surface-level happiness. When broken up into two parts, the first part means good or well. The second part means soul, mind or passion. So, it literally means to be “well-souled” or “in good spirits.” It’s a deep, settled encouragement. It’s a verb that appears often when someone is urged to take heart or be uplifted in spirit—to be of good courage. Is anyone cheerful? James asks. Let him sing psalms!

Jesus prayed much on that last night before His arrest. Matthew and Mark also tell us that Jesus sang a hymn with the apostles before they went out. With a hymn, they all went out and went forward into the dark moments they would face. In the midst of varying degrees of hardship . . . pray. To take heart, to be of good courage . . . sing psalms. Paul and Silas broke the silence of the night with prayer and with song, which brought the light they needed. 

It also brought light to others: “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed” (Acts 16:25-26). The prisoners heard, and they were intrigued, perhaps even moved. With the earthquake, their chains were loosed as well, and the account tells us that because of all that occurred that night, the jailer himself was moved to ask, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). Paul was then willing to open the door of salvation to the very man who had shut the door of the prison on him. 

When we sing into the darkness, we declare, against all our feelings, that God is greater than any darkness, that God is at work even amidst the darkness, and that God alone can lead us back to the light. Revelation tells of the coming Kingdom of God, when we will no longer have darkness to fear or to endure. We won’t have to run back to the light: light will simply be there. “There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). With this future in mind, with a prayer and song in our hearts, we can face our own midnight moments—those times when darkness reaches its deepest point, before yielding to the promise of a coming dawn.