From Acts 21 there is this outrageous dispute between the religious leaders against Paul. They fabricate stories to try convince the Romans to have Paul killed. This saga goes on for years until Paul is sent to be tried in Rome.
Acts 27 ends with a magnificent account of God’s Mercy.
The Romans haven’t heeded Paul’s advice and end up in a storm that eventually ends in a total shipwreck. Leading up to this moment an angel appears to Paul saying that no lives will be lost on account of Paul being on the ship though the ship will be lost. And so it is.
But……
There are some interesting bits to recognize in Acts 27 vs 41-44, particularly vs 43(b) and 44.
Notice God’s Provision for the people on the boat who cannot swim.
In this account of reality catching up with prophesy, we see a few things at play:
1) Lack of belief in God causes us to lean on our own understanding which often leads to us making a wreck of things as we tend to be impulse, ego, and emotionally driven.
2) Our best plans are no match for nature. We live under the delusions of grandeur- case in point being the Titanic or recent tourist submersible seeking the Titanic. Not to mention volcanic eruptions, tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc etc.
3) We give up decency, civility, and responsibility to others when our lives are at stake (soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners). How true is this of human nature? When faced with life or death, how few of us are prepared to die so others can live, especially criminals.
Don’t we ALL do that, judge ourselves better than convicted criminals despite our own criminality (breaking traffic laws, drugging, driving drunk, watching porn which enables the sex-trafficking industry, greedy exploitation)?
I love how God keeps His Word by allowing the ship to wreck near land, and break up into pieces that people who can’t swim have planks to float on to get to shore.
Yes, the self-righteous can argue, “Why did God let the ship run aground in the first place?”
Well, God tried to warn the people, but they chose their own understanding and came to know, for themselves, that God isn’t a liar, and God won’t force us to obey Him as He has given us freedom to choose.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE WRECKED OUR OWN LIVES BY FOLLOWING OUR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE, EGO, EMOTIONS, AND IMPULSES?
I certainly have, and have been paying the price, steadily, back since 2012, when I left rehab for the last time. Rehab was the planks-of-rescue.
As my amends near an end with the last bits of financial mess drawing to a close, it is much like floating out at sea- I am on God’s Merciful plank of sobriety, but still pounded by waves of life as I secure my eyes to the shore of steady ground just up ahead.
We all make mistakes, and certainly are all sinners. This shipwreck called our world is destined to run aground- God has told us that in advance.
The question is whether we are going to be foolish, as these sailors were, thinking we are Invincible, or can we admit that we aren’t all that and need a plank to help us get to where God says we are safe.
The Holy Bible is such a beautiful book that highlights just how foolish we keep being, and how wonderful our Father has been to rescue us from shipwreck to shipwreck.
JESUS IS OUR PLANK. HIS CRUCIFIXION ON A PLANK AND RESURRECTION FROM IT IS THE ONLY REASON THERE IS A SHORE.
At the end of the book of John there is this amazing story of Jesus waiting on the shore with breakfast, waiting for the disciples to bring the boat in.
As I read this account in Acts 27, I just pray that you and I, whether we get to the shore in a boat, swimming, or on a plank, that we get to the shore where Messiah King Jesus is standing with breakfast.
JESUS LOVES US.
I pray that you will allow yourself the privilege to be loved so that we each can unwreck our lives by listening to our Father whose prophetic warning ALWAYS become reality. After all, God has written the end of humanities story, so we might as well listen as there is no way way of escaping the wrecking.
#Hayibo 