Saturday, February 29, 2020

Shipwreck





I was reading in Acts 27 this morning of the Apostle Paul’s shipwreck experience. My breath halted when I realized I was saying to myself, “Yes, this ship is definitely sinking.”  The parallel…. of situations and struggles currently running rampant in my life right now... to a sinking ship in a storm, was too close. 



Your emotions can get so raw, your thoughts so scattered and tired, and it just feels like you’re going down.  

I won’t elaborate.  I don’t need to. The details don’t matter nearly as much as the Truth we both need in those times. And when it’s how I FEEL vs what I KNOW, His Truth is what I need to know.  His Truth will carry me through. It will carry you through too.  

God revealed to Paul that the ship was going to sink.  But He also told him that if everyone just stayed on board and did not try to abandon ship they would ALL survive. They all reached the island shore safely. Please take time to read this amazing account.   

The natural tendency and easiest thing to consider when life gets too much is to “abandon ship”; find a way to avoid the inevitable, escape the pain somehow.  Trusting God for the way of escape, which may mean seeing the ship go down so to speak, and just grabbing hold and hanging onto His promises, is not so appealing and doesn’t always make sense.  God told Paul in this instance it was exactly what everyone needed to do. But how do we do that exactly when life’s blows hit us hard and heavy? When decisions are weighty and we don’t know which way to turn?  

The promises of God are so very real, they are trustworthy and strong, timely and relevant.  We have to determine to hold onto them, believing that God’s way is what He will honor and is what we most need.  He could take our circumstances and certainly could intervene in so many ways. But there are so many lessons to be learned in it all.  Christ wants our full attention and obedience to His word and ways. There is always more of Christ to know and love, and our hearts and hurts need to heal.  

        “So take courage!  For I believe God. It will be just as He said.”  Acts 27:25

Do you grasp the power in those words?!  Paul was able to say, with a literal shipwreck looming, I BELIEVE GOD!  IT WILL BE JUST AS HE SAID. Those that could swim were told to jump and swim when the ship started to break apart.  Application? There may be something He equips you to DO that will make a difference. It will direct you, help you, heal you.  Do you pray? That’s certainly something we can all DO. Others that could not swim were told to find a fragment and hang on. They would float to safety. Application?  Resting in His Divine providence for us, staying in His Word, waiting for His healing work in us, will bring safety and assurance. He will carry us to the place we need to be.  

Sometimes it is pretty evident that a shipwreck is looming in a life that will change it forever --a sudden death, a terminal diagnosis, a struggling addicted child, a job loss or financial disaster, false accusations or work-place bullying, a declaration of divorce.  Do I blame God? Do I abandon God? Or do I believe God, that His good purposes in me can and will be accomplished (Philippians 1:6)?

No, we do not always escape suffering and loss. But help and healing for our hurting hearts is where God’s unfailing love is so evidenced. I have found myself at times, sitting in my front room in the quiet, with just the glow of soft light, letting Him love on me.  I can’t say anything. But I listen, and wait. Sometimes in tears, sometimes numb, His word begins to come into my thoughts, it rises up in my heart and memory, these promises and Truths I have read and cherished...and I let them wash over me.  

Let this fill you with peace and comfort and enabling grace today.  Jesus has you. We have His words to cling to. They are profound and powerful; life-saving, life-changing, soul-settling.  They are the way of escape from the torment of all the turbulence of life’s storms.  

Pray with me...Oh God, it’s time for You once again to stretch my faith, increase my confidence in Your word, strengthen my resolve to praise You in my storm, and keep me ever leaning into Your grace!  Jesus, if all is lost, You are enough. Your unfailing love is overwhelmingly enough. Your word is life and light. Your joy is unspeakable. Your presence with me is peace.   

The ship may be sinking, but there is a quiet calm shore just on the other side of this storm.  

And Jesus is already there.