SHIPWRECKS WILL COME!
No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. But we will be shipwrecked on an island.” —Acts 27:21-26
“But we will be shipwrecked on an island.” Paul and all those on the ship would be saved even though the ship would go down. Life is like that as we live for the Lord Jesus. Sometimes we are safe in the ship and sometimes the ship will go down to move us on to the next phase of the race the Lord God Almighty has for us.
Even though there are times when we feel like our “ship” is going down and that we are about to drown, let us trust the Lord God Almighty to move us to the next phase of life that He has for us. Sometimes the ship must be shipwrecked to accomplish what the Lord desires. As we will see in the next chapter, because of being shipwrecked the Apostle Paul had opportunity to impact many lives (Acts 27:3-10). If it wasn’t for the storm and the shipwreck, he would not have come into contact with those people that were impacted.
The Lord uses various things in our lives to bring us into contact with people we wouldn’t ordinarily come into contact in our everyday life. When times come when we are “shipwrecked,” may we be sensitive to those around us that the Lord has brought us into contact with through that “shipwreck.” It may be the “shipwreck” occurred for us to have an impact in their lives for the Lord Jesus. Let us not be so focused on the “shipwreck” that we do not see the opportunities to share Jesus with others around us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBJJJkiRukY
Dear Father, please help me to see what You desire to so through the “shipwrecks” of my life. May I be sensitive to others around me when the “ship” goes down and seek to point them to Jesus.