When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved. After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: "Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Acts 27:20-22

 

When Paul was in custody and on his way to Rome a storm fell upon the ship. The men fought the winds and tried to fight against them but eventually gave way and were simply driven by the storm. During the storm they barely secured the lifeboat. After the storm had passed the damage was so great they had to hoist almost all of their cargo overboard. Before they set sail Paul had told them not to sail from Crete but they would not listen since he was a lowly prisoner. In this verse we see that because they had been jostled and lost much and from their own ignorance they almost gave way to hopelessness.

In our lives, we often hear other people give us advice of what not to do and what to do. Too often we are quick to act and slow to listen and learn. Instead of listening to the Pauls in our lives we shrug them off and decide to sail from Crete anyway. We want to get to the end goal and we want to do it our way. We think no one else knows how to do it and are quick to forget that sometimes God places certain people in our life to steer us away from storms.

When we don't heed their advice we find ourselves in a storm. The storms can get so big and rough that we simply become driven along by the waves, powerless to their might. After the waves wash away we are left with the damages of our actions. Sometimes we have much damage and suffer much loss and heart ache. Paul emmulates Christ by admonishing us for our foolishness of walking into a storm when the journey could have gone in a smoother way. He also practices what God does by offering hope even after all of the damage has been caused.

God tells us that when the waves toss and turn even if they are of our own creation through stubbornness or ignorance we can call out to him and he will calm the winds. If we don't turn to him we can still weather through a storm but regardless what route we take we will have damage and loss. If we turn to the Lord in the midst, the storm will be shorter and the damage less. If we lean on our own devices we will find the devastation greater. Either way the Lord tells us through Paul that even after we've found ourselves in a storm and after we've suffered damage and loss because of our ignorance we still have hope.

God tells us through Paul that we should not lose hope because even if our plan to reach our final destination fades away we ourselves will not be lost. When we try to accomplish our plans without the Lord's direction our ships will be destroyed but we will not be. This gives us a good warning to turn to the Lord for success and it also gives us a message of hope that even when we fail to commit our plans to him, he will recover our losses and fix our damage. He will feed us after many days of hunger. Commit your plans to him so that the journey though long and grueling will be fruitful because of the trials instead of delayed and failed because of ignorant stubbornness.

 

 

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Dear Lord,
We pray that you will help us to heed the advice of Paul's you place in our lives. We pray that you will help us to commit our plans to you and do them for your glory. We praise you for your supreme knowledge and guidance. Forgive us for turning from you. Help us to recognize when we are being ignorant or stubborn and put us back on your course Lord. We praise you for your faithfulness and know that you will feed us when we grow hungry and be a place of rest. Blessed be your name Father. Amen.