Friday, January 17, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Acts 27-28
Key Verse
Acts 27:38 — “And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.”
Devotional Thought
The voyage to Rome begins with a prisoner’s escort and a favorable wind, but it ends with a shipwreck and a serpent’s bite. Luke records the journey with the eye of a witness—he was there, alongside Paul and Aristarchus, sailing from Sidon past Cyprus, changing ships at Myra, wrestling contrary winds along the coast of Crete. Paul warned them plainly: this voyage will be with hurt and much damage. But the centurion Julius trusted the shipmaster and the owner more than the prisoner. It is an old story, repeated in every age: the experts say sail, the season says wait, and the soft south wind persuades us to loose from harbor. Then Euroclydon falls.
What follows is one of the most vivid storm narratives in all of literature. Days without sun or stars. Cargo jettisoned, tackle thrown overboard by the passengers’ own hands, hope itself finally cast away. And in that darkness Paul stands up—not with reproach only, but with cheer. An angel had stood beside him in the night: Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar. God had given him every soul on board. So Paul becomes the calmest man on a sinking ship, breaking bread and giving thanks in the presence of two hundred seventy-six frightened people, promising that not a hair of any head would fall.
Then come the strange graces of God’s providence: the ship runs aground, but all escape safe to land. On Melita, barbarians kindle a fire in the cold rain, and a viper fastens on Paul’s hand—yet he shakes it into the flame and feels no harm. The islanders watch for swelling, wait for death, and instead witness healing: Publius’s father raised from fever, the sick of the island gathered and cured. The prisoner becomes the physician; the shipwreck becomes a revival. At last Paul reaches Rome, chained to a soldier but free to preach, receiving all who come, teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
We read this in mid-January, when the year’s first enthusiasm has worn thin and the weather itself seems contrary. Perhaps you have loosed from Crete on a soft wind and found yourself driven instead. Acts 27 does not promise smooth sailing. It promises that the God who stood by Paul in the storm stands by His people in theirs—and that even shipwreck serves His purpose, carrying the gospel to places a peaceful voyage never would have reached.
Reflection
- Where in your life have you trusted the “master and owner of the ship”—the experts, the favorable forecast—over the quiet warning God placed before you, and what did the storm teach you?
- Paul told the sailors, “Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” Who has God placed in your “ship” right now, and are you staying with them in the storm or looking for a boat of your own?
Prayer
Lord God, whose voice Paul heard in the night and whose purpose held through every wave, grant us his courage in our own tempests. When the winds are contrary and neither sun nor stars appear, remind us that we belong to You and serve You, and that You have promised to bring us safely to the haven You have appointed. Keep us from abandoning the ship You have given us; make us faithful to those who sail beside us. Let us shake off every viper unharmed, give thanks and eat in the presence of fear, and reach whatever Rome You have prepared—still preaching Christ with all confidence. Amen.