What Shall I Do — 7-Day Devotional & Group Study

Seven Days

One short reading and one prayer a day. Ten minutes, no rush.

1. Day 1Praise at Midnight

   "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them."

   The song opens in a prison at midnight, before the doors open and before anyone can see how the story will end. Its old wording remembers Paul and Silas praying and singing. The NIV lets us see the scene with a little more detail: they were not singing into a private corner; other prisoners were listening. Their worship became a witness in the dark.

   That matters because we can turn worship into a reward for better circumstances. We sing when the bills are paid, when the test comes back clear, when the relationship feels steady, when the future is understandable. Paul and Silas had been beaten, confined, and placed under guard. They did not praise because pain was unreal. They praised because God was still God in the middle of it.

   The earthquake came after the singing, but the deepest miracle is not merely that chains fell. It is that wounded people chose prayer and praise before they knew what God would do next. Their worship was not a trick to force heaven’s hand. It was trust offered to the Lord who had not left them.

   There are midnights that do not look dramatic. A quiet house can feel like a cell. A long night of grief, a difficult diagnosis, a child far from home, or an unanswered prayer can make the soul feel locked in. In those hours, praise may be a whispered hymn, a sentence of thanks, or simply staying present before God. You do not have to pretend the dark is light. You can tell the truth about the dark while also telling the truth about God.

   The listeners matter too. Someone may be hearing how you carry hardship—not to evaluate a performance, but to glimpse where your hope lives. Ask God for a faithful song before you ask for a changed circumstance. The Lord may move the walls, but He can also make a midnight prayer a doorway of grace for someone nearby.

   Journal Questions

   • What “midnight” situation tempts me to wait for relief before I worship?
   • What honest sentence of praise or trust can I offer God in the middle of it?
   • Who might quietly be encouraged by a faith that stays present in the dark?

   Prayer

   Faithful God, meet me in the midnight places of my life. Teach me to pray and praise without pretending my pain is small. Let my trust point someone else toward Your steady presence. Amen.

2. Day 2The Question That Must Be Answered

   "He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”"

   The jailer’s question cuts through every smaller question. He does not ask how to protect his position, repair the prison, or improve his reputation. Shaken awake by the reality of God, he asks what a soul must ask: “What must I do to be saved?” The song carries that question from an old jailhouse into every generation that must answer it personally.

   The answer is wonderfully direct: believe in the Lord Jesus. It is not a command to assemble a better record, master religious language, or prove that you are worthy of mercy. It is a summons to place personal trust in Jesus—the Lord who died and rose again, the Savior who can do what we cannot do for ourselves.

   Believing is more than agreeing that Jesus existed or admiring His teaching from a distance. It is coming to Him. It is resting the weight of our guilt, our future, and our need on Him. The jailer had been responsible for keeping Paul and Silas locked up; now he is invited to trust the Lord they serve. Grace meets him in the same night that exposes his need.

   The phrase about his household should not be treated as a shortcut around personal faith. The story goes on to show the word of the Lord being spoken to everyone in the house, and the household responding. God often works through families, but no one is saved by another person’s faith, heritage, or church attendance. Each of us must answer the question before Christ.

   Perhaps you have heard the gospel many times and still carry the question as if the answer must be more complicated. Or perhaps you have trusted Christ but are tempted to look somewhere else for assurance. Return to the plain answer. Jesus is not asking you to save yourself. He is calling you to believe in Him. Bring Him your whole need, not a cleaned-up version of it, and receive His mercy with an honest heart.

   Journal Questions

   • When I think about salvation, where am I tempted to rely on something other than Jesus?
   • What would it mean for me to bring my real need to Christ instead of a polished version of myself?
   • How can I make the gospel clear and personal in my home or friendship circle?

   Prayer

   Lord Jesus, I believe You are the Savior I need. Rescue me from trusting my effort, background, or good intentions. Teach me to rest my whole life in Your mercy and to speak of You clearly to those I love. Amen.

3. Day 3Cares Cast onto the Lord

   "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken."

   The first verse does not deny the weight of sorrow. It names a burdened soul, storm waves, and distress that rolls over a person like cold water. That is not shallow faith. It is faith telling the truth about what pain feels like. The Psalm gives that honesty somewhere to go: cast your cares on the Lord.

   To cast a care is not to pretend it never mattered. It is to move the weight from our own exhausted grip into God’s hands. We often carry our worries as though constant rehearsal could keep disaster away. We replay conversations, predict outcomes, and try to solve tomorrow before today is finished. The burden may be real, but we were never designed to be its final bearer.

   The promise is not that life will immediately become calm. The Lord says He will sustain us. Sustaining grace is often quiet: enough strength for the next phone call, enough courage to ask for help, enough patience for another day, enough faith to keep praying. God does not mock the overwhelmed person. He receives the care and gives steadiness where the ground feels uncertain.

   The lyric’s picture of waves is especially helpful because waves can make us feel powerless. We cannot command the sea to be still. But we can take the next faithful step while held by the One who is not threatened by the storm. A care may include grief, financial pressure, illness, conflict, fear for a child, or a sin that has finally come into the light. Name it plainly before God.

   Today, practice the movement of this verse. Write the burden, speak it aloud in prayer, or share it with a mature believer who can pray with you. Then resist the urge to pick it back up as though God were inattentive. Your Lord is not asking you to be unshaken by your own strength. He is promising to sustain you as you keep bringing the weight to Him.

   Journal Questions

   • Which specific care have I been gripping instead of bringing to the Lord?
   • What might sustaining grace look like for the next twenty-four hours?
   • Who is a trusted believer with whom I can share this burden honestly?

   Prayer

   Lord, You see the waves that feel too high for me. I place these cares in Your hands. Sustain me with the grace I need for today, and teach me to trust Your strength when mine is thin. Amen.

4. Day 4Hope at the Graveside

   "Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him."

   The hymn does not hurry past the cemetery. It pauses with the person who weeps over the graves of the dead. Christian hope is not a command to deny loss, speak around sorrow, or pretend that death leaves no wound. Jesus Himself wept at a grave. Love aches when a chair is empty, a voice is missing, and ordinary places hold memories we cannot repeat.

   Paul’s words do not say believers should not grieve. They say grief is different when it is held inside the resurrection hope of Jesus. There is a kind of sorrow that concludes death has the final word. The gospel does not minimize the last enemy, but it declares that Jesus died and rose again. Because He lives, those who have died in Him are not lost to God.

   This hope is not sentimental optimism. It is anchored in an event: Jesus rose bodily from the dead. The One who entered death came through it in victory. Therefore, the Christian’s future is not a vague wish that things will somehow be all right. It is the promise of being with Christ and of God’s faithful care for His people.

   Grief can make faith feel uneven. One day you may remember with gratitude; another day you may be surprised by tears in the grocery store or at a family gathering. Neither response means you are doing grief wrong. Bring both to God. Speak the beloved person’s name. Thank the Lord for the gift they were. Ask Him to hold what you cannot make sense of yet.

   The song’s question—what shall I do when the friends I have loved are removed from the earth?—does not receive a cheap answer. We come to Jesus, who has defeated death and who stays near to the brokenhearted. Let the resurrection give your tears a horizon. We weep, but not as people abandoned to hopelessness. In Christ, love is not erased, and death is not the final chapter.

   Journal Questions

   • What loss do I need to name honestly before God instead of carrying alone?
   • How does the resurrection of Jesus give my grief a horizon without making it shallow?
   • Who around me may need patient presence rather than quick answers in their grief?

   Prayer

   God of all comfort, hold those I love and the sorrow I carry. Thank You that Jesus died and rose again. Give me grace to grieve honestly and hope deeply in the promise that death will not have the last word. Amen.

5. Day 5Living Ready for Eternity

   "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives"

   The third verse imagines the world rolling away like a cloud and eternity opening to view. It is a sobering image because most of us live as though the visible world is permanent and our plans are guaranteed. Peter interrupts that illusion. The day of the Lord will come, and what we have treated as ultimate will be shown for what it is.

   Scripture does not give this truth to make believers morbid or panicked. Peter asks a practical question: in light of eternity, what kind of people ought we to be? The answer is not to withdraw from daily life or become obsessed with dates and disasters. It is to live holy and godly lives now. Eternity gives today its proper weight.

   Being ready is not the same as being impressive. It is a life turned toward God: confessing known sin, pursuing integrity when no one is watching, loving neighbors, making peace where possible, and refusing to build our identity on things that cannot last. The small choices of a Tuesday afternoon matter because they are offered before the Lord who sees the whole story.

   The song places this question alongside sickness and weakness. None of us controls the length of our days or the moment when life changes. That uncertainty can either harden us into fear or awaken us to receive each day as a gift. The gospel invites the second response. Jesus has entered death and overcome it; therefore, those who belong to Him can face eternity not by denial but by faith.

   Do not postpone the obedience you already know God is asking for. Make the call. Seek forgiveness. Open the Bible. Stop nurturing the hidden pattern. Serve the person in front of you. None of these acts earns salvation; they are the fitting fruit of a life that knows it belongs to Christ. The world may feel solid, but only God is unshakable. Let that truth make you more present, more faithful, and more ready to meet Him.

   Journal Questions

   • What temporary thing has been receiving the weight that belongs to God alone?
   • What act of holy or godly obedience have I been postponing?
   • How can eternity make me more faithful in today’s ordinary responsibilities?

   Prayer

   Eternal God, forgive me for living as though this world is all there is. Make me ready to meet You by forming holy, humble faithfulness in me today. Keep my hope fixed on Jesus and my hands open in obedience. Amen.

6. Day 6The Healer of Broken Hearts

   "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

   The bridge turns the song from a question into a plea: “Thou canst make my poor broken heart whole.” It is not a polished prayer. It comes from someone who knows where else can I go? That is a holy place to begin. A broken heart is not a spiritual failure to hide from God; it is often the very place where we learn to receive His care.

   Psalm 147 gives a tender picture of the Lord. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Binding is careful work. A wound needs attention, cleansing, protection, and time. The verse does not promise that every ache will vanish on our preferred schedule. It tells us that God is personally attentive to the damage we carry.

   Hearts break in many ways. A relationship ends. Trust is violated. A dream collapses. A body weakens. A child’s choices bring fear. A long season of loneliness makes hope feel fragile. Sometimes the wound is connected to our own sin and the consequences we cannot undo; sometimes it is something done to us. In either case, Christ does not ask us to deny the fracture before we come near.

   Healing may include tears, counseling, medical care, wise friendship, rest, boundaries, confession, or forgiveness that God grows over time. These are not rivals to faith. They can be ordinary ways the Healer tends a wounded life. The promise of God’s presence does not make us passive; it gives us courage to take the next honest step.

   The old hymn asks, “Unto whom shall I flee?” Its answer is still true: flee to the Lord. Bring Him the part of your story you are tempted to seal off. Ask for peace, help, and wise companions. He is not repelled by your brokenness. The One who made the stars and calls them by name also notices the wound you cannot explain. Trust Him to bind what is torn and to keep you while He works.

   Journal Questions

   • What part of my heart have I been tempted to keep closed off from God?
   • What careful, honest step toward healing can I take this week?
   • Who might be a wise and safe companion in this season?

   Prayer

   Compassionate Lord, You see every wound in me. I bring You the broken places I cannot mend by myself. Bind up what is torn, guide me toward wise help, and make me whole in the way and time that honors You. Amen.

7. Day 7To Jesus I Will Go

   "All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away."

   The outro finally answers the question that has run through the whole song: “That will I do—to Jesus I’ll go and be saved.” The song does not end with a technique, a mood, or a promise to become strong enough. It ends with a direction: go to Jesus. The gospel always brings us to a Person, not merely a better religious plan.

   Jesus speaks an astonishing welcome in John 6. Whoever comes to Him, He will never drive away. That promise meets the person who fears being too stained, too late, too inconsistent, or too complicated. It meets the person who has tried to numb sorrow, manage guilt, or wait until life feels more respectable. Christ does not turn away the one who comes to Him.

   Coming to Jesus includes repentance, because we turn from trusting ourselves and from the sin that destroys us. But repentance is not a payment we make before mercy can begin. It is the turning of an empty-handed person toward the Savior. We come because He is gracious; we keep coming because He is enough.

   This invitation is personal. You cannot come to Christ through a parent’s faith, a spouse’s faith, a church membership, a favorite song, or a past emotional moment. Those may be gifts, but they cannot stand in Jesus’ place. The question becomes yours: will I go to Him? And for the believer, the answer is not only a first-day answer. We go to Him again in confession, in doubt, in grief, in praise, and in obedience.

   Let the resolve of the lyric be simple and honest. If you have never trusted Christ, speak to Him today. Acknowledge your need, ask for mercy, and place your faith in Him. If you belong to Him, renew the same dependence. He does not grow tired of receiving His people. The door is not held open by your ability to keep yourself together. It is held open by the welcome of Jesus, who says He will never drive away the one who comes.

   Journal Questions

   • What makes me hesitate to come to Jesus with full honesty?
   • Where do I need to replace self-reliance with a fresh act of faith in Christ?
   • How can I make “to Jesus I will go” a daily pattern rather than a distant memory?

   Prayer

   Jesus, I come to You with my need, my sin, my questions, and my hope. Thank You that You do not drive away those who come to You. Help me trust You personally and keep returning to Your mercy every day. Amen.