Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

February 28, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: ACTS 27

40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.
41 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.
42 And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.
43 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:
44 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.

This is a reminder that even when you serve the Lord, you will see storms. This is a reminder that even when you are in the middle of God’s will, you will face difficult times. This is also a reminder that when you are in the storms, and you face the difficult times, you can trust the Lord.

Earlier in this passage, Paul told the men on the ship that nobody would die, even though they faced a storm called Euroclydon. Paul told them to go ahead and that they would be safe as Paul tended to believe what God says. I guess an experience like Paul had on the road to Damascus convinces you to believe what God says.

It says here in verse forty-two that because the ship was getting ready to crash, the soldiers decided they would go ahead and kill the prisoners instead of risking them getting free. Paul was one of those prisoners. I love verse forty-three: “But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose”. God kept his promise again.

Then the ship breaks in pieces and all of them fall in the water in different directions. The Bible says that some of them swam to safety, some of them grabbed onto boards, and some of the men grabbed onto “broken pieces of the ship”. But they were all saved. God kept His promise again. Just a reminder that there are times when God uses “broken pieces” to save us. This ship might not have been in one piece, but God used every “broken” piece to bring someone to safety. May I encourage you today, even when it seems that everything in your life is broken, God can use it somehow to keep you safe in the middle of that storm. He has promised that!