Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had
obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to
the shore. 14 But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down
from the land. 15 And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we
gave way to it and were driven along. 16 Running under the lee of a small
island called Cauda, [2] we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat.
17 After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then,
fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear, [3]
and thus they were driven along. 18 Since we were violently storm-tossed, they
began the next day to jettison the cargo. 19 And on the third day they threw
the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor stars
appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being
saved was at last abandoned. (Acts 27:13-20 (ESV)
All hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. Of
course, Luke here means only salvation in the earthly sense, to be saved from
worldly calamity. The storm rages for days on end. They lose their cargo and
even their tackle. It was the kind of storm Jesus sleeps through, but causes
the rest of us to grab on to whatever we can and hold on for dear life. The
kind of storm that causes the sailors to toss Jonah overboard.
There are times like this in a person’s life when the storms
rage and a person wonders if he will ever see the light of day again. Perhaps
it is actually a storm at sea. That still happens, and ships sink. Perhaps it
is cancer. Perhaps it is financial catastrophe. There can be a myriad of things
that happen that cause a person to lose all hope.
But there is a hope we never have to abandon and that is the
hope of eternal life we have in Jesus Christ. Here we have salvation that
transcends this world. And a God who cares about you enough to die for you in
this world is not one to abandon you to the seas of this world. Even should we
die in the midst of these storms, Jesus is there for us holding us in his hand.
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