ACTS 27:26

The ship that Paul is on is caught in a storm and will soon shipwreck. The Bible says in Acts 27:27-34, “But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country; And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms. Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that you have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.”

Now the centurion is listening to Paul. After the centurion had been with Paul long enough to see what kind of a person Paul was, the centurion started to respect Paul. The character traits that made Paul highly esteemed among the unbelievers are all available to every believer. Honesty, bravery, and sound judgment are valuable traits in the world and not all that common. Christians obtain such things from Christ. Yes, sometimes the world will persecute you when you serve the Lord, but they will also respect you. It is hard to find an honest person sometimes. The world knows that.

In the verses that we just read notice one of the things that the soldiers had done in order to escape the possible doom that the storm was potentially bringing upon them. In verse 33-34 Paul said to them, “This day is the fourteenth day that you have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat.” The soldiers correctly recognized that the problem they were all in was partly due to their own fault. But incorrectly they thought that somehow if they punished themselves, they would please the powers that be. This motivation is very similar to what some people of our day have who think that they can do something to please God. Perhaps they can punish themselves or do some list of good deeds, and then God will accept them. Anyone who thinks that does not understand grace. God’s grace has to do with the fact that He saves you even though you do not deserve it and cannot earn it. The problem of the sins that you committed is all your fault, and there is absolutely nothing that you can do to fix the problem or to save yourself or to make God pleased with you based upon what you now do. Because of Jesus and what He did on the cross of Calvary, God gives you salvation and eternal life and forgiveness of sins. Do not ever think of yourself as earning God’s favor or His acceptance of you. God certainly will favor you and accept you, but not because of anything that you have ever done or ever will do. God will favor you and accept you freely because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. That is grace: God’s riches at Christ’s expense.

The Bible says in Acts 27:35-44, “And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat. And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea. And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore. And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. And the soldier’s counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”

Not only did Paul pray before he ate, but he prayed out loud, and others heard him pray. If it was okay for Paul to do in the Roman Empire, then it is okay for you to do in the American Empire. After Paul prayed, he began to eat; and then the others started eating also. That is what Paul wanted. He wanted those men to eat so they would have strength. If you want strength, you can pray for strength; and you can also do what it takes in a physical and material world to get strength. You need to do both. Paul led by example. He knew that others would follow his example. That is the way that life works. As far as yourself is concerned, do not ever follow the bad example of others. Be on your guard. But always realize that you are an influence. Make sure that you are an influence for good for the cause of Christ for His name’s sake. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Perhaps the biggest things happening on this trip of Paul’s to Rome are the great evidences of God taking care of Paul and making sure that Paul gets to Rome safely. There are two ways that Paul could have gotten to Rome: one way could have been by a nice easy trip with nothing going wrong. God could have done it that way. Another way of getting to Rome was the way it actually happened with great problems, but with God providing deliverance from each one of the problems. There was a great storm and a shipwreck, but not one of them lost their lives. With or without the shipwreck Paul just continued his journey. There may be a storm come into your life, but that storm will not keep God from continuing to guide you on the path that He wants you on; and as a matter of fact God will use the storm to glorify the name of Christ. That is the way it always happens. It happened that way in Paul’s life, and it will happen that way in yours also.

After the storm was over, there was another potentially disastrous situation. Acts 28:1-6 says, “And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.”

Paul was bitten by a venomous snake, but was not poisoned by it. Jesus promised that such protection should be available for His disciples. Jesus said in Mark 16:18, “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Of course, you see the difference in what happened to Paul and what some cults do today who purposely handle snakes. Paul grabbed a hold of the snake by accident, and God protected him. People can really take things out of context, but when they do, they always end up with foolish teachings.

We realize that this incident with the snake God permitted to happen for the furtherance of the gospel. God wanted these people to listen to Paul, so God knew just how to get their attention so that they would want to listen to him. At first the people interpreted the incident entirely incorrectly. They saw the serpent bite Paul, a man that they knew had just been saved from the storm. They thought that Paul must have done some horrible crime, and that now the gods were somehow taking vengeance on him. Man still looks at things that way. Man thinks that if you have good health and money that you have been blessed, but that if something bad happens, God must be mad at you and is taking vengeance on you. If God wanted to take vengeance on you, you would be dead in the next instant and wake up in hell; but that did not happen because God is a merciful God who is slow to anger and who wants everyone to know the forgiveness that is in Jesus. You might deserve God’s vengeance, but He offers you His grace and mercy through Christ. If God allows a bad thing to happen in the life of a Christian who is walking with Him, it is not for vengeance, but it is for the glory of God. God will use what happened to glorify His name and to work His will. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them that are the called according to His purpose.”

God worked miracles in Paul’s life, but God works miracles in the lives of others also. You may need a miracle. The people on the island of Melita needed miracles because of sicknesses and health problems. You have a lot to be thankful for if you have good health. Many people in this world do not. With all the diseases and germs and all the things that can go wrong with the human body, it probably takes just as much of a miracle each day to keep you healthy as it would to get you healthy once again should you be overtaken with a sickness. The Bible says in Acts 28:7-10, “In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously. And it came to pass that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed: Who also honored us with many honors; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.”

When these people were healed, the most important element that resulted in their healing was prayer. When someone is healed, it is God who does the healing. They needed to pray for the sick two thousand years ago when there was very little that could be done from a medical point of view; and we still need to pray today for the sick. The Biblical principle is found in James 5:16 that says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

The Bible says in Acts 28:11-16, “And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli: Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome. And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and The Three Taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.”

Paul had been on the island of Melita for three months. Other than the initial things that happened when he first got there, we do not really know what took place. Most likely the Word of God was preached and a testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ continued. When we get to heaven, perhaps we will sit and listen to Paul tell us the rest of the story. The same is true in many of our lives. We walk with the Lord, we see His answers to prayer in our lives, and give our words of testimony in the community as the Lord gives us opportunity, but for the most part no one knows except us and God what was happening. It will all be made known in heaven. First Timothy 5:25 says, “Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.”

Paul’s destination was Rome. He had been tremendously delayed by the great storm that wrecked the ship and caused them to have to stay on the island of Melita for several months. But all that was now past. It was God’s time for them to now get to Rome. It says in verse 13, “And after one day the south wind blew.” From the island of Melita the south wind was the perfect weather for them to sail directly to Rome. When God wants something to happen, it will happen. He opens the doors that no man shuts. If the door is not open for you to do a certain thing, then it is because God has not opened it. When the time is right, if you are trusting the Lord like Paul was, the south wind will blow and you will sail right to your destination without a problem.

Hopefully the final destination of your soul is heaven. If not, today you can turn from your sins, turn to Jesus, and ask Him to save you in prayer. He will save you so that your soul will sail into heaven.

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