Acts 27:1–26

Be still: Here I am, Lord. Please meet with me today. Amen

Read: Acts 27:1–26

‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’  So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. (v24,25)

Encounter: An imagined advert read —'our cruise ship will sail from Adramyttium and call in at the ports of Sidon, Myra, Cnidus, Fair Havens, and finally Phoenix (Crete).

But this was no cruise; and no 'block-of-flats' cruise ship. This was the journey from hell in a square-sail, wooden-hulled cargo ship tossed about mercilessly in the jaws of a savage hurricane, the 276 souls on board in deadly peril. But there, amidst the terror, was a still centre — Paul.

Shouting above the howling of the storm and the screams of frightened people, Paul tells them an angel of God has visited him and promised they will all survive, though a shipwreck is inevitable. I wonder how many believed him? How could anyone stay calm in such circumstances?

Paul could, because the Angel of the Lord had told him it was God's purpose that he should stand trial before Caesar in Rome. Therefore nothing, absolutely nothing, could stop God's purpose being completed.

When I was born, I had a cleft palate. My mother, who had lost a child a year earlier, was very upset and fearful for my future. Then three times, in unexpected ways, the same verse was given to her: Psalm 138:8. In the Good News Translation it reads:

The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
    your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
    Do not forsake the work of your hands.

In their old age my parents called their house Desired Havens where (unlike the exposed and unsuitable Fair Havens of Paul's journey) they knew with passionate certainty they were at 'safe anchor' with Jesus through any storm.

Apply: While I follow Jesus, nothing absolutely nothing, can stop his purposes for my life being fulfilled. What's true for me is true for you. You might find yourself in circumstances where shipwreck seems inevitable. But Jesus will fulfil, perfect, complete the beautiful purposes for which he created you. Nothing, absolutely nothing can wreck that.

Devote: Lord, thank you that you have unstoppable, everlasting, good purposes for my life. My times are in your hands.