Day 39: Acts 27

Luke goes into great detail describing the sailing journey from Caesarea to Italy. Read it again and pay close attention to the details. See what God shows you.
The Centurion in charge let Paul visit his friends briefly while they were docked along the Asian coast. It was there that they transferred to a bigger ship. The ship was a prison ship, but also may have contained some other travelers. Luke says there were 276 aboard. During wintertime, the Mediterranean Sea gets dangerous. Many ships just stop for the winter.
Paul was warned by God that the voyage was going to be treacherous with great damage. The Centurion listened instead to the pilot of the ship and set out to sea.
A huge storm began that lasted for weeks. It was so bad, the sailors would not eat for 14 days. Paul said, “If you had only listened to me.” They started throwing everything overboard they could. They were afraid as the waves came and the water shallowed that they would run aground. Finally, Paul told them an Angel of the Lord had spoken to him that there would be no loss of life if they stayed on the ship. He encouraged them to eat. They ate and felt better. Then they even threw the wheat overboard. As things got worse and they perceived they were approaching land from the depth of the water, they wanted to get into the lifeboats. Paul told them that if they went that route, they would die.
Some of the sailors wanted to kill the prisoners to keep them from escaping. The Centurion was determined to see Paul safely to Italy, so he kept them from killing anyone. This time they listened to Paul. The ship was torn apart, and all their cargo was lost, but everyone got safe to shore. It was an island they did not recognize called Malta.
We see in this passage that God did not keep Paul from experiencing the storm. Instead He provided a way through the storm that caused people to believe in Paul’s God more. As we will see in the next chapter, the Lord does a miracle through Paul on the island of Malta and many people are affected. When the storms of life come, whether they be from Satan or a natural phenomenon from a fallen world, we must listen for God’s voice. He may not want to remove the storm but take us through it so we can help others see the salvation of the Lord.