Complete Confidence in God's word

Acts 27:22-25  But (even) now I beg you to be in good spirits and take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you but only of the ship (23) For this (very) night there stood by my side and angel of the God to Whom I belong and Whom I serve and worship, (24) and he said, Do not be frightened, Paul! It is necessary for you to stand before Caesar; and behold, God has given you all those who are sailing with you. (25) So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith (complete confidence) in God that it will be exactly as it was told me.

Imagine being on a boat for weeks, maybe even months, and knowing that you are nearing death and hearing those words come from one of your fellow crew mates.  

 The words that Paul spoke were very strong words, they were not weakly spoken words, left open for interpretation those words were clear, concise and to the point.  They gave clear direction to what everyone was to do and how they were to think.

Imagine the thoughts of these men who are trapped in what is described to be a typhoon.  They haven’t had anything to eat in days and are throwing furniture and supplies overboard to keep control of the ship.  The words that Paul spoke are going to either drive you mad in anger or they are going to soothe your soul.

Also, keep in mind that Paul is on this boat because he has been in jail for over two years now for disturbing the “peace” in the temple by the Jews.  They caught Paul performing purification rituals with other Jews, I might add, and a riot broke out.  This riot ensued over the detest of Paul and his belief in the resurrection of Jesus.   Some of the Jews from the province of Asia were there and they do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus and do not condone Paul’s teaching of Jesus and had Paul put into jail.

They had planned to kill Paul but every plan they had come up with had been foiled and every attempt they had to have him put to death or sentenced to jail has also been ruined, so this brings us to Paul’s travels to Italy on this boat.

Paul has been put through the ringer, as they say, and still he is standing firm in his faith and belief in God.  He is still so very connected to God through all of this that God sent an angel of the Lord to deliver Paul a message of safety.   From the beginning of this trip Paul had tried to persuade them into waiting till a better season for traveling by sea and here they are right in the mess that Paul had said would happen. 

I wonder if in the moment of Paul’s Prophecy if anyone had an “I should have listened to him” moment.  You know we have all had them.  We have all had that feeling that maybe we shouldn’t do something and then it’s confirmed by a not so random comment, but we go anyway.  We go anyway only to find ourselves in some kind of situation wishing that we would have listened to that small voice inside of us telling us not to go. 

By the way, that small voice is the voice of the Holy Spirit, telling you or trying to direct you on what is right and wrong for your life.  Paul in this case was the only one who was bold enough to voice what his inner voice was telling him. 

These four verses can speak a world of wisdom in their simplistic form.  They can speak life to any situation you are in.  You don’t have to be stranded on a boat in the middle of a typhoon for these verses to be relevant.  You can be sitting at your desk in the middle of a normal day and these verses are relevant, yes, even over 2000 years later.

These verses show us that yes, we are going to have problems and sometimes they are going to be severe problems, but no matter what they are whether the storm is big or small, have good cheer.  Be in good spirits and try to stay positive about your situation.  Paul actually says the words I beg you. 

I BEG YOU!

That’s a big request, which to me says that this is something very important.  It must be something that I have to do on purpose and put effort behind.  I need to work at this staying in good cheer and spirits.  That this isn’t going to be my natural inclination when a storm comes, but it should be the outlook I have on purpose. 

Verse 23 tells me that as long as I am serving, worshiping and belong to God that no matter where I am or what is going on He will send protection to my aid.  Verse 23 reminds me that as long as I cling to my God, my Savior, He will not turn His face from me.  He will make a way for me to have comfort in the midst of the storm.  He will make a way out and give me reassurance that even though it looks grim right now, don’t worry, be of good cheer and spirit because the God you serve, the Lord your Savior has got your back.  

I love that in verse 24 the angel of God tells Paul that he has a task to perform and since that task has not been completed put your rest and confidence in God, that you will be safe and all that are with you will be safe.  

And finally, the big verse, or the power ballad at the end of the movie, verse 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith (complete confidence) in God that it will be exactly as it was told me;

I almost don’t have words for that other than… Paul believed that statement!  That verse was Paul’s life.  His faith was extraordinary.  He’s belief and confidence in God was paramount.  His ability to lay back on the chest of God and know that He will take care of things was and is one to be imitated.

Paul’s faith was unshakable even in the shakiest of seasons.  Paul had every reason to question God, here he was in a boat on his way to Italy after being in jail for years and God could have taken care of this like he did before.  We don’t see anywhere where Paul complained or his faith waned.  No, we see the opposite.  We see Paul trying to bring people, being King Agrippa and his wife Bernice to know Jesus in the middle of pleading for his life.

Paul’s testimony is rock solid and never changes.  He stands on the word of God and his intimate experience with Jesus.   What do we stand on?  Would we have been one of the people to get angry with Paul after his declaration on the boat or would we have been filled with thanksgiving for God’s hand of grace and mercy? 

It’s hard to say exactly what you would do because we are not in that exact situation but we can take a look at our lives and see if we lean more towards the faith of Paul or the lack of faith of Saul.  We have the ability to use the life of one man and make the same adjustments that he made.

Paul decided and stood on his decision to worship, praise, serve and belong to God the Almighty.  I personally really love the belong too part.  I belong to God… that just sounds really good.   It makes my heart leap in my chest.  We can all be like Paul.  We can stand on the storms of our everyday lives and choose as he did to be of good spirits and take heart, ask God for help, listen for His advice and then have faith that He will do exactly as He said He will do.

There are many…many, verses in the Bible that are life changing, life giving verses and many people that we can admire and look up to but for me, these four verses are four that I need to tuck into my heart, mind and spirit.  I need to rely on these verses and put them to memory.  I need to use these verses to strengthen me in times of struggle or times of doubt.

I need to look at the transformation of Paul’s life when I am wondering if God can do exactly as He has promised me He will do in my life.  Acts 27: 22-25 have been profoundly eye opening for me, and faith building scripture that I intend to make my own, I encourage you to do the same, if you, like me find yourself at times, struggling to hold on to that mustard seed of faith.