Paul is on his way to Rome, after nearly two years of imprisonment at Caesara. He is on a vessel transporting wheat with 276 people on board.
They leave the harbor of The Fair Havens and encounter a storm
Storms can come up so suddenly. One minute the south wind can be blowing softly and the next minute they encounter a storm that would eventually destroy the ship.
I. THE VULNERABILTY IN THE STORM (13-20)
We are all vulnerable to storms. Trouble can come so suddenly upon us. It is not a matter of if they are coming, but rather when they are coming.
A. The storm was salvage
There arose a tempestuous wind. It was a v iolent storm.
The storm was called Euroclydon which means a violent agitation.
Euroclydon was a sailor’s term for a strong northeasterly wind. It came from two words--one Greek and one Latin. The Greek word refers to an east wind, and the Latin word refers to a north wind. This northeast wind would come down from Asia Minor, and was so fierce that it was of hurricane or typhoon proportions. They were bobbing up and down, being tumbled and beaten by the wind.
The gentle south wind was suddenly replaced by a treacherous, deadly northeastern wind. The Euroclydon was a great fear among all who sailed the Mediterranean because it tended to send ships to an ocean graveyard off the coast of North Africa. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of many sunken ships there.
According to verse 20 this was no small tempest that had come upon them.
B. The ship was susceptible.
They attempted to secure the ship. In those days they couldn’t bolt the planks to the girders because they didn’t have bolts. The only way they could secure the ship was to tie or glue it. In a single-masted vessel there was no distribution of stress, as opposed to a multi- sail vessel, where the stress is distributed over the entire hull. The ship would simply begin to split in half.
As a result in a bad storm, they would attempt to wrap cables tightly around the ship to keep it secured during the storm, a procedure called "frapping" in a mariner’s dictionary.
“They used helps.” They used ropes, cables, or chains, for the purpose of securing the ship. The danger was, that the ship would be destroyed; and they, therefore, made use of such aids as should prevent the loss of the ship.
The ancients were accustomed to passing cables or strong ropes from one side of the ship to another, to keep the planks tightly together during a storm. The rope was slipped under the bow, and passed along to any part of the hull which they pleased, and made fast on the deck.
The sailors took to keep the ship from coming apart from the waves and wind. They did so because the ship was susceptible to destruction in the midst of such a violent storm.
You and I are susceptible to destruction in the midst of the storms of life that we may have face in this life.
II. THE VALUE OF THE STORM (21-29)
A storm oftentimes has value in it.
The men on the ship had lost all hope. They had nothing and no one to turn to. But that is exactly what God wanted.
The storm caused them to
A. Clarify values
In a storm you will quickly determine what is important and what is not. A storm will help you settle your priorities.
See verse 18. They got rid of some of the cargo they were carrying.
“the tackling of the ship” --whatever they could do without that carried weight. They got rid of things that were not absolutely necessary.
See verse 38. The storm had caused them to see what was truly important
B. Clarify vision
The men on the ship had lost all hope. They had nothing and no one to turn to. But that is exactly what God wanted.
To realize the worth of an anchor, you must first encounter the storm.
God teaches in the light, but He test in the night. It is often in the storm where we learn that He is all we truly need.
III. THE VICTORY IN A STORM (30-44)
A Shelter in the Time of Storm
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The Lord’s our Rock, in Him we hide,
A Shelter in the time of storm;
Secure whatever ill betide,
A Shelter in the time of storm.
Paul had peace. He had the shelter in the time of storm!
There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them.
One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.
The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.
But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest - in perfect peace.
Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why?
"Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."
A. Shelter in remembering God’s presence (23)
Child of God reckon on the presence of God. There is victory in remembering His presence.
Psalm 23
I heard about two mischievous boys, ages 8 and 10, which were always getting into trouble. If anything happened in the neighborhood, the parents knew their boys were involved. The parents finally decided to take the boys to a preacher that had been successful in dealing with unruly children. The eight year old was sent to the preacher first. The preacher, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the eight year old down and then sat down directly in front of him. He leaned over toward the boy, took him by the arms, looked him right in the eyes, and with his booming voice asked, "Where is God?" The boy did not say a word, but just sat there wide-eyed, with his mouth dropped open. So the preacher repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God?" Still the boy did not respond, so the preacher raised his voice even louder asked, "WHERE IS GOD?"
The boy let out a yell and then bolted from the room and ran all the way home. He ran through the door, up the stairs, and dove into the closet. When his older brother found him he asked, "What happened?" The younger brother, gasping for breath replied, "We are in BIG trouble this time. God is missing, and they think we did it."
There are times in our life when we may feel that God is missing. Yet we need to remind ourselves when going through a storm, God is never missing, but is always present. He is aware of what is going on, and He is in complete control!
B. Shelter in resting in God’s promises (24,25)
When God give a promise, it is certain and sure. We can depend on it with everything we have, even our lives.
“some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”
Paul had declared in verse 22 that no man would lose his life. He declared the Divine promise even though circumstances would argue strongly against them.
Paul said that he belved God not in church but in darkness when there appeared to be no God.
Paul believed God when the timbers were creaking and the waves were dashing.
He said, “I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.”
Our faith should be to us as umbrella in the rain, as a shield in the battle, for when we put up the shield of faith the storm beats on us in vain.
Some might have made it to shore on boards and others on broken pieces of the ship, but they all made it as God had said.
The storms challenge us to:
1. Trust in God’s promises that relate to His control.
Oh, that we would believe in God’s control during the storms we face in life! He knows what He is doing.
Romans 8:28
2. Trust in God’s promises that relate to His care.
1 Peter 5:7 exhorts us, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." God’s providential care is there even during the storms of life.
WHEN YOU CAN’T TRACE HIS HAND-TRUST HIS HEART!
Two men were talking of the experiences they had. One said to the other, “It’s terribly hard to trust God in the dark.”
The other man quickly answered, “If you cannot trust a man when he is out of your sight, then he is not worth much, and if you cannot trust God in the dark, it shows that you not trust Him at all.”
Conclusion
God has a purpose for the storm. Storms will try our faith, but rest assured God is at work even in the storm.
Job 23:10 “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
