Sunday, November 23, 2008

You hear none of this

Acts 27
10 And said to them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be disastrous, with much damage, not only to the cargo and ship, but also to our lives.
11 But the centurion believed the pilot and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.
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14 But not long after there arose a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster.
15 And when the ship was caught, and could not make headway into the wind, we let her be driven along.
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20 And when neither sun nor stars appeared in many days, and no small tempest lay upon us, all hope that we should be saved was abandoned.
21 Then as they had been long without food, Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Men, you should have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, and incurred this damage and loss.
22 But now I encourage you to be of good cheer; for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only the ship will be lost.
23 For this night there stood before me an angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
24 Saying, Do not fear, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God has given you all those who sail with you.
25 Therefore, men, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be exactly as I was told.
26 Yet we must be cast upon a certain island.
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34 Therefore I urge you to take food; this is for your strength. Not a hair shall perish from the head of any of you.
35 And when he had spoken thus, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
36 Then they were all of good cheer, and they also took some food.
37 In all, there were two hundred and seventy-six of us in the ship.
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40 So they cast off the anchors, and left them in the sea, and loosening the rudder ropes, they hoisted the foresail to the wind, and made for the beach.
41 But striking a sandbar, they ran the ship aground; and the bow stuck fast, and remained immovable, and the stern was broken apart by the violence of the waves.
42 And the soldiers planned to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away, and escape.
43 But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that those who could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:
44 Then the rest should follow, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they all escaped safely to land.

Chapter 28
1 And when they had escaped, then we learned that the island was called Malta.
2 And the native people showed us unusual kindness: for they kindled a fire, and welcomed every one of us, because it had begun to rain and was cold.
3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
4 And when the natives saw the creature hanging on his hand, they said to themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, and though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live.
5 And he shook off the creature into the fire, and suffered no harm.
6 They expected he would have swollen up, or suddenly fallen down dead: but after they watched a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

I could never do that. You notice how many times Paul is 1 inch to the edge. How Paul was saved by destruction only to have to be saved again. That would be really hard. I would be questioning so many things. God why did you tell me about the storm if you knew they wouldn't listen, why did you save me only to be bitten by a poisonous snake, why did you send me to Rome you knew i was going to be in ship wreck. Yet you hear none of this.

God teach us to trust.
God lead us.
God bless us.

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