Acts 27:13-44
Here in the book of Acts, we have an incredible story of God's protection during the battle. What's happening is that Paul is now under the guard of a Roman centurion, bound for Rome on board a Roman merchant ship. The Roman merchant ships were quite large. The average ship was about 130 feet, and some much bigger. I say that because along the way they encountered a severe storm and were hopelessly driven across the open water. The Scriptures sure make it sound like everyone, including Paul, was helping out on the ship, trying to keep it afloat.
See, we all have a responsibility to serve others, and to preach the gospel; that is not just the pastor's job. We are all in this thing called life together...we are all called to lay down our lives for each other. Paul was in the middle of a very difficult battle, and just like out on the battle field, everyone plays a part. We may not be on the open waters being tossed around, but we are still in the midst of a battle. It's now time for all of us to get up and take our positions. We can only do this when we get on our knees before God and surrender to Him. Then he will show us the next step; He did that for Paul.
After many days, when all hope seemed lost, Paul, who I'm sure never stopped praying, stood up in front of everyone and said, "You should have listened to me—I told you not to go, however God has revealed to me that we are going to crash into an island. The boat will be destroyed, but all will survive."
When God tells us to do something, we must be obedient and do what He says, right when He says it. There are lots of other voices out there that will be saying all kinds of things—some will even look like experts—but we need to be obeying God's call. He is the One who promises the victory in this Eternal battle. Follow Him!
~ Jason Frantz
