It started innocently enough.  Paul and Silas were doing what they do, bringing people they met out of the darkness and into the light.  And therein lies the problem - Satan won't go down without a fight. 

Acts 16 tells us  that a  slave girl was not only in bondage to her Roman owners, but she also had a demon that was controlling her as well. It told the future through her, and for days, she followed Paul and Silas around, announcing to everyone "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 

Finally Paul had had enough. He turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" And we are told that at that very moment the spirit left her.

You might say "all hell broke loose."  Satan was not about to take this sitting down, and suddenly you have angry slave owners (who are watching the end of their fortune-telling fortune) dragging Paul and Silas before the police.  It's not pretty, and before long for a mob has formed.  Things quickly get nasty, as Paul and Silas are severely flogged (and unjustly since they were both Roman citizens), thrown into an inner cell of the local jail, having their feet are placed in stocks. That should do it, the jailer thinks to himself smugly.....

Round one - God.  Round two - Satan.  Your move, God.

At midnight, Paul and Silas are 1) sleeping soundly, 2) asking for a pillow, 3) angrily discussing in whispers why God would allow this to happen to them after all they had done for Him 4) praying and singing hymns, 5) none of the above.

If you picked 4, you are correct. As unlikely as it seems, they were worshipping God!  No complaining, no griping, no blaming - worshipping!  And now it was time for God to show Satan who was boss. 

Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations fo the prison were shaken.  At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.  The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 

Put Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" The jailer called for light, rushed in  and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.  He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

By the way, this was apparently was no ordinary earthquake. It must have been a "pinpoint one" in that the infrastructure of the city and even the jail seems to have remained intact. No one was running around trying to find loved ones, or to help those trapped in building. There is no mention of damage.

In fact, the scene that follows is beautifully calm, as the newly converted jailer washes those bloody flogging wounds on the backs of Paul and Silas - the jailer!  Not only that, he brings them over to his home (this could not have been normal jailer/prisoner policy!)  The home, obviously still intact from the pinpoint earthquake, is a scene of true Christian fellowship as the newly baptized family serves the prisoners breakfast!!  The place is full of joy. Nothing more is heard from Satan, who apparently slinks away, defeated but still determined. There will be a next time.

Paul and Silas paid quite a physical price. The previous 12 hours had been packed with emotion. The whole world may have seemed out of contol, as though there was no one charge. But nothing could have been further from the truth. And as they hung in there, praying, singing,  trusting, waiting - Satan was repelled, people got saved, and God got some serious glory.

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

Amy Carmichael