Acts 27:27-32 (NIV)
On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it fall away.
Shortly after Paul’s pronouncement that, even though everyone on the ship would be saved the ship would run aground on an island and be destroyed (Acts 27:22, 26), things began to happen.
Right around midnight the experienced sailors onboard heard sounds and felt a change in the way the ship was riding that told him that they were nearing land. It was dark, so they let down sounding lines, ropes with lead weights on the end, and found that they were only in one hundred twenty feet of water. Just a few minutes later, the sounding showed only ninety feet, an alarmingly rapid decrease in depth.
This confirmed that they were rapidly being driven toward land and were in danger of the ship hitting the shallows or rocky outcrops and being destroyed, killing everyone on board. The sailors scrambled and dropped four anchors from the stern in an effort to stop their forward motion. They also prayed for daylight to come quickly so they could at least see what they were close to and maybe steer around anything in their way.
But nothing worked. In a very short time it was apparent that they were still being driven into quickly shallowing water, and it was still very dark, with even the moon and stars hidden by the thick clouds.
At that point, the sailors were overcome by a bad case of “every man for himself.” Several of them decided that they would get off the boat and row ashore in the lifeboat. They said they were going to attach additional anchors to the bow of the boat, but God knew their true intentions and alerted Paul, who alerted the centurion, who ordered the soldiers to cut the ropes of the lifeboat, leaving the sailors stuck on board with the rest.
God had already told everyone on board through Paul that, even though the ship would be destroyed, they would all be saved. But in the heat of the moment with that end now very much in sight, the promise was forgotten and nearly everyone turned to their own strength and cleverness to try to save themselves.
Father we still do that today. Intellectually we have no problem believing and trusting in your promises. But when things start to look dangerous, we let go of your promises and start to figure out how to fix the problems on our own. This often gets in your way, and frequently negates your promise entirely. If we decide we will take things into our own hands, you will let us and leave all the results in our control. What a tragedy! Lord, help me to not just trust you and your promises in the prayer closet. Help me to trust them just as confidently on the front lines as well. Amen.
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