Shipwrecked----got any of your own shipwrecks?
Stripped----feel like you've lost a few things?
Favored----finding favor with the captain of the prison, unheard of!
Paul was given undisturbed freedom to preach the Gospel on this island to a barbarous people. This was no small thing for God to do. This island welcomed the shipwrecked. May we find favor where we are shipwrecked today. We all have equal standing at the foot of the Cross. Beat above this world, oh heart of mine.
276 people could see a land they had never seen before. Acts 27:39.
For two deadly weeks, the ship weathered the Northeaster, a tempestuous terrible wind.
Yet.
All make it safely to shore.
But.
First, they shipwreck in the harbor.
Some commentaries speak of the story as a metaphor of our own journey.
"The ship that had weathered the storm in the open sea, where it had room, is dashed to pieces when it sticks fast. Thus, if the heart fixes in the world in affection, and cleaving to it, it is lost. Satan's temptations beat against it, and it is gone; but as long as it keeps above the world, though tossed with cares and tumults, there is hope for it." Matthew Henry.
Things may not be all right in this life. We may just shipwreck right smack dab next to shore. What is security? Tribulations will come but they also will pass. In God's time.
PHOTO: No sun by day. No stars by night. A very dark night of the soul. Violent storms. Two weeks without food. Yet, not a hair on their head perished.
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