On Stormy Seas #T

In chapter 27 of the Acts of the Apostles we read this account.  Paul and other prisoners were being transported to Rome on a ship from Alexandria.

The wind being unfavorable allowed for but little progress for many days.  Finally they came upon a place called The Fair Havens, near the city Lasea.

There they spent much time, to the point that sailing was dangerous, the season nearing winter.

Paul told those in charge, "Don't do it.  There will be loss of goods and the ship and perhaps our very lives."  They believed their own counsel more than they heeded Paul (I mean, he was a preacher, after all) so they set sail.  Encountering a soft South wind they supposed that they were in good shape; but then they encounter Euroclydon!  Euroclydon, or in today's parlance, Gregalia, is a severe and nasty nor'easter with which the Mediterranean is often afflicted in the wintertime. 

They struck sail, cast out the tackling to lighten ship and saw neither sun nor stars in many days.  All hope was lost.

Yet after while, Paul stood up and said, "I told you so!  You should have listened to me in the first place.  But now I am telling you, Cheer up!  There will be no loss of life, but only the ship.  How do I know?  An angel of the God whom I serve stood by me and told me to have no fear, for I must stand before Caesar, and none of us will perish!  But we will be cast upon a certain island.   And I believe my God!"

So beginning with the twenty-seventh verse, we are regaled with the exciting account of the shipwreck and the preservation of all 276 people on board.


Takeaway

1.  Not all fair havens are safe havens.
2.  We are to be cheerful, for God is faithful.
3.  Hope is the anchor of the soul.  (Matthew Henry)