Read Acts 27
Paul had been eager to go to Rome. His eagerness was not that of a tourist or explorer, but that of one constrained by the love of Christ, desiring to carry the gospel to the world’s great capital. At last his longing is being realized. He is going to Rome, but in a strange way. He is going as a prisoner. The remarkable providence in this is that he is carried on his great missionary errand at the cost of Rome itself.
Paul was the only man on the ship whose hope and courage did not fail in the storm, which overtook them. In the midst of the tempest an angel stood by him and assured him that he must be brought before Caesar, which meant that he could not perish in the sea. He was assured also that for his sake all on board should escape, though the ship should be lost. At first sight, it seems a contradiction. Paul, noting the attempts of sailors to escape in one of the ship’s boats, said, “Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” Yet Paul had said before that there should be no loss of life on the ship. He had received this assurance, too, from an angel of God. If it was the divine purpose that no life should perish in this storm, why did Paul say here that unless the seamen stood at their posts the passengers could not be saved? The divine assurance of safety did not do away with the use of all proper means for securing deliverance. Indeed, it implied that these means should be used. We say that every man’s life is a plan of God — that God’s plan extends to the most minute things in our condition and circumstances. We can defeat God’s purpose for us — we always do defeat it when we fail to do our part. The purpose of God here was that Paul, and all with him on the ship, should reach the shore in safety; but the fulfillment of His purpose depended upon the faithfulness of those who had the care of the ship.
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