In Genesis 9:11 & 15, God promised
He would never again destroy the world by flood. But that doesn't mean there
won’t be storms. The rainbow is His sign that He will not wipe out all mankind
by a flood.
The story of Paul’s voyage to Rome
(Acts 27) illustrates how bad these storms of life can be. Millennia before
global warming triggered frequent superstorms, he spent two weeks with 275 of
his closest friends trapped inside a violent storm on a ship as a Roman
prisoner. Taking this as a type of a storm of life, perhaps we can learn a bit
about God’s dealings with us.
Paul knew the danger and warned the
centurion and ship’s captain. However, the professional sailor dissed Paul’s
advice and sailed into the storm. (Acts 27:11) At first, they thought they had
succeeded. (27:13) But God does not suffer fools to persist long in their
self-centered delusions. (27:14)
Recognizing their plight, they began
to throw cargo overboard. (27:18) Everyone, regardless of their spiritual
condition, knows that dire circumstances require us to shed the less important
to get or keep the most important. Why does it take a life-threatening storm
for us to remember this?
God was with Paul and all those on
board through the storm. He sent an angel to encourage Paul (27:23-24). Paul
responded by encouraging everyone on board with a strong statement of faith.
(27:25) The angel noted that God had granted Paul the life of all of his
traveling companions - even his Roman captors. What a blessing to be able to
speak words of life and hope to the unbelievers and desperate around us!
Perhaps they will only hear us if we experience the storms of life together.
The sailors wanted to abandon their
posts, but were thwarted by Paul and the Roman soldiers. (27:30-32) Lest we
condemn these sailors too harshly, how many of us have been tempted to flee
tough circumstances, to take the easy way out? But that is not how God works.
He forms and refines us in the midst of the fire. There is a gospel song by the
Speers about Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace, that ends with the
chorus, “...He’s still in the fire.” Daniel’s friends were delivered from it,
but the Fourth Man did not come out. That’s where God works. Our bonds are
consumed and we are set free; He is there with us. God’s Grace even deals with
pagan sailors in the storm. The world isn’t terribly enthusiastic about this
aspect of God’s ways.
As the ship approached shore, the
soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to prevent their escape. (27:42-43).
However, the centurion spared them and all made it safely to shore. Although
disaster tests the souls of men, God is still there.
The Lord was indeed gracious to them
in the storm. Is this a type to indicate that ultimately all will be saved?
Jesus taught otherwise. He used the metaphor of houses built on sand vs. rock.
He warned that “…everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them
into practice is like a moron who built his house on sand. The rain came down,
the rivers rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a
great fall.” (Matt. 7:26-27)
The storms of life test us all,
whether or not we experience Harvey, Irma, or Maria. Physical storms give us a
graphic picture of the consequences of going through them without the Lord at
our side.
