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Word from Scotland
by Sandy Shaw
In Acts 27 we are reading of this Mediterranean adventure where real danger threatens the lives of all 276 people aboard.The soft wind worsened and a storm arose and all the sailors could do was let the ship go.
Verse 15. Let it be driven along. Rejecting the advice which God gives can mean people are just driven along - even in a direction in which they do not want to go. Soon it is a tempest. The timbers were beginning to spring open – verse 17 - and to prevent the ship from breaking up, they passed ropes underneath the ship, to tie the ship together. This was the normal practice in such situations. See how accurate the passage is.
You can read of this and examine pictures of these ships in various books.
The next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. They must have been really terrified to go this far. What would the owner say? All that so very precious grain was now lost, because they had not obeyed Paul, the servant of God.
And the following day - all the spare equipment went overboard.
No matter what men did the situation does not improve, and all hope is lost, and despair is setting in. Sometimes, men have to reach this point before they will listen to the man of God.
While the crew and soldiers were rushing around in a hive of terrified activity, something else was happening aboard that ship. Paul had been communing with God. While the storm was at its height - its worst - its fiercest. Verses 21 to 23. Is there not a lesson there? Paul had been praying and fasting - and the consequences of that significant communion are revealed. No life is lost.
There are important spiritual lessons to be gleaned from this passage. At first reading it may appear to be just a sea story, in which a severe storm arises. But one man is praying and fellowshipping with God and He knows that the living God wants him to arrive in Rome, and He knows that God will get him there. Paul has that confidence and assurance that God will bring him through the storm and out of the storm. As you read this is someone going through a storm? Is your circumstances bleak? Are the waves pounding upon you and almost drowning your faith? Has everyone rejected your witness, your ministry, your testimony, turning their back on your advice? You are not the first man to have experienced that. Commune with God. Trust Him to see you through these trying times. Read Acts 27 again and see how one of God’s finest men was treated, remembering that he has just spent two years imprisoned unfairly in Caesarea. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ can involve us in facing injustice and just as He did. Jesus overcame and triumphed and He is looking to see you emerge victorious.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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