Storms - Pt 2

Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. (Acts 27:21-25 ESV).

You lose your job. Your home feels like a battleground. You’ve just been diagnosed with a serious illness. Your financial situation is in dire straits. In seasons like these, many of us feel like we need something new; we begin to look for a “new word” from God that applies directly to our situation. Our reading today is a continuation from yesterday’s reading. The apostle is making his way to Roman. The trip starts off well. At the first port, Paul is given liberty to visit friends. On top of that, the ship is headed for a place called Fair Havens to spend the winter. But then everything starts to unravel. The wind suddenly shifted. As the ship left Fair Havens for the tempestuous sea, it was as if God himself was blowing against Paul. When the winds are against us and no fair haven is in sight, we have to regroup. We get so wrapped up in doing something for God. He is concerned with what he is doing in us. He leads us into winds and storms to show us just how unbreakable his promises are. Paul warned the crew that a storm would come, and it did come. A violent wind rumbled over the island of Crete, blowing Paul and his shipmates into the murky, angry depths of the sea. Into that moment of utter despair, God sent an angel to Paul, saying, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you” (v. 24). The promise that Paul would stand before Caesar is not new. Two years earlier, Jesus himself stood by Paul in prison and promised, “As you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (cf. Acts 23:11). In the midst of Paul’s terrifying storm, he didn’t need a new promise or a new revelation; he needed to remember the promise God had already given. God stripped everything away from Paul and his companions so they couldn’t put their hope in cargo, tackle, or even the ship itself. Paul’s only hope was God’s promise. That night, Paul strengthened the crew with the assurance of that promise (Acts 27:21-26). We, too, should remember that not all storms come to disrupt our lives; some come to clear the path forward.