Acts 27 :: Shipwreck

Acts 27 in the Message and TNIV translations

Two things strike me in this chapter, so I want to mention them both today...

Leading Up
Although Paul is a prisoner on the ship, he still sounds authoritative every time Luke quotes him.  He's giving advice to his captors, warning them, encouraging them, expressing confidence in God--not the kind of behavior one would expect from a prisoner.  And apparently his captors listen.  In fact, for the last several chapters, Paul has spent most of his time with people in authority over him.  Yet he has their attention. He is subject to them, but is still influential.

How are you at "leading up"?  Do you live a life before those in authority over you that earns their attention and respect, and encourages them to consider your God?

God's Will as a Closed Door
By Paul's own testimony, this trip to Rome was God's plan for him.  He was supposed to go there.  Why, then, was the trip so difficult and dangerous?  The weather won't cooperate, the centurion won't cooperate, the crew tries to abandon ship, the crew considers killing the prisoners...good grief, what a list.  When I think about the times I'm trying to discover God's plan for my life, I often look for "open doors" and "closed doors."  Open doors are opportunities or directions in which it seems the obstacles have been removed, and I conclude God is leading me in that direction.  If I apply that strategy to Paul's journey, the whole thing is one giant closed door.  Yet, Paul continues with certainty that God is leading him.  He wasn't looking at the closed door, but the size of the opportunity.  God was giving him audiences with the most powerful people in the world.  This perilous journey will bring the gospel to Rome, the power center of the world.  I think Paul was willing to beat the door down to follow God's will.

Per Aspera, Ad Astra. "Over rough paths to the stars."  Sometimes the very best and very greatest opportunities of our lives lie on the other end of very paths, filled with obstacles.  Only those with the core virtue of Faithfulness endure those paths, or are even willing to walk them.  Sometimes God calls us to attack the closed door, take the rough path, and steel our resolve to follow His will.