2019-10-09….Wednesday….Reaction
The amazing part of this story is Paul’s reaction. It is a 180-degree turnaround from the way the sailors responded to this crisis. The sailors were in despair; they said the situation was hopeless. They were discouraged and depressed and tossed everything overboard to try to keep the ship afloat.
But Paul provides a different model for us. He was calm and confident. He had courage in the crisis. Absolutely nothing fazed him.
The sailors’ reactions were the natural responses that we tend to have in a crisis, but they do not have to be our reactions. One test of our Christianity is how we handle a crisis. It is easier to live like a Christian when things are going great, when all our prayers are being answered, when we are in good health, when our income is rising. It is easy to be a Christian at times like that.
The test of our faith is when the problems come and we are tempted to despair, to drift, and to throw out the things that are really important in life. I love the following statement “Character is revealed in a crisis, not made in a crisis.” Character is made in the day-by-day, mundane, trivial things of life—the routine. Character is developed there, but it is revealed when we get into a shipwreck, into a situation that threatens to swallow us up.
What should we do when things look as if they are falling apart and the ship is going to crash and disintegrate? What should we do when we are battered by big problems? Look what the sailors did: “Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight” (v. 29). The safest thing to do when we get in a storm is to drop our anchors. Just stand still. Situations change, and the sands of time shift. But the Bible says that those who put their trust in God are immovable like Mount Zion (Ps. 125:1).
Often when people encounter a major problem, they want to change everything else in their lives at the same time, because the situation feels overwhelming and they can’t stand still. A person will lose his or her spouse by death or divorce, and the typical reaction is, “I’m going to quit my job. I’m going to sell everything and move to a whole new location and start over.” But that is exactly what they do not need—more change. What they need to do is put down some anchors and get some stability.
Why was Paul so confident? Because he was encouraged by three tremendous truths, three foundational beliefs of the Christian life, that serve as anchors of the soul. These three truths can anchor you on the rock of stability, so that when “the winds of crisis blow you back and forth, you will have confidence. These are truths that you can build your life on, that will stabilize you in the storm.
Tomorrow lets do our anchors shall we?
Our lives together 