Can You Trust God When Your Ship Is Sinking?

Paul suffered the perils of a severe shipwreck recorded in Acts 27.

"Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up" Acts 27:20.

Paul was in chains, a political prisoner on his way to the High Court of Rome and the ship that his guards had placed them on was going down in a horrendous winter storm. Paul never lost his faith, even though everything around him was literally coming apart.

A successful missionary, vexed by many trials, Paul probably needed some encouragement often, yet even in this particular life-threatening peril, while apparently personally fearful, he prayed for everyone else.

God dispatched an angel to encourage Paul."Saying, "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you" Acts 27:24.

God didn't calm the storm, it raged on for days, yet Paul's faith in God's control saved everyone's life. The guards wanted to kill the prisoners to keep anyone escaping during the sinking and the sailors attempted to save themselves and abandon the passengers. Paul's concerns are for the lives of everyone around him. He trusted God's love for their souls, and didn't get distracted by the loss of the material.

God never says our ministries will be easy, or that what we know of God will be accepted by everyone around us, but even when the ship is sinking, we need to remember that our focus is on God, not on the sinking ship under our feet. God cares for people's souls and not necessarily their material comfort. While common sense says we need this, or that to serve God, God says, "All you need is Me. Look to Me and I'll take care of all the material things." (Matthew 6:33)

Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest says this about trusting God even while common sense says it can't work that way.

"If a man (woman) is going to do anything worth while, there are times when he has to risk everything on his leap, and in the spiritual domain Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense and leap into what He says, and (when) you immediately do, you find that what He says fits on as solidly as common sense.....Trust God entirely, and when he brings you to the venture, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis, only one out of a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God.

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