26 January, 2021
💞 Dear Royal Praying Priests, shalom!
💎 “Since considerable time had passed and the voyage was already dangerous because the Fast had already gone by, Paul kept warning them, telling them, ‘Men, I can see that the voyage is about to end in disaster and great loss—not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives!’ But the centurion was persuaded more by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was said by Paul. And because the harbor was unsuitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to set out to sea from there—if somehow they might reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing northeast and southeast, and spend the winter there. When the south wind blew gently, supposing they had obtained their purpose, they raised the anchor and started coasting along the shore by Crete.” (Acts 27:9-13, TLV)
The idea that God permits bad things to happen to us is often a hard pill to swallow. However, God is always in control of the storms of life, whether they are self-inflicted, caused by others or caused by God Himself! When the storms of life hit us, what is our first reaction? Do we rely on the experts, the majority’s opinions, the circumstances, or God?
In Acts 27, Apostle Paul was on his voyage to Rome as a prisoner to appeal to Caesar. Out to the sea, they ran into bad weather and docked at Fair Havens of the island of Crete after much difficulty (v. 8). God used Paul to send out a warning to the crew, as he saw only disaster ahead for cargo, ship and all their lives! Because of losing a lot of time already, the sailors were too impatient to take heed of Paul’s advice (v. 9-10). Their impatience leads them right into a life-threatening crisis!
Then the Centurion took the advice of the ship captain and the shipowner (v.11), and the majority of the crew also decided that the ship should sail on (v.12). Hearing from the experts and following the most popular opinions and prevalent ideas send all the 276 people into dangers! When a gentle south wind began to blow, which was the exact opportunity that the crew desired for, they had no return but sailed out into storms (v.13)! Relying on the current favourable and acceptable circumstances instead of hearing God is never the right direction!
Next week we will continue to learn faith lessons from the rest of Paul’s journey in the middle of the storms.
Let us worship Him. Still
🙏 Dear Heavenly Father, we admit that none of us wants to go through any forms of storms, and only if the rest of our lives could be always easy, clear and bright! However, we understand that You use storms of lives to reveal Yourself to us and to make us more like Your Son, Yeshua! Please guard our hearts and minds for not swaying away from Your purpose and will. Help us to fix our eyes fully on You, not on the worldly value systems, the expert’s opinions, or the current circumstances. You are our God, You are always in control of storms, and there is hope in You. In the name of Yeshua we pray and bless You, Amen.