2-7-2021

“We Must”

In dealing with the affairs of life there seems to be periods when the storms are most threatening and ominous (gloomy, unpromising, worrying). These are periods when it seems the fiber of life is about to be lost and there is no real future. Not only do we sense the end for ourselves but for many others also. Everything that we assumed to be firmly rooted are being torn from us. The night is dark and the future seems to be literally in question.

These periods may arrive when we know that we are doing the Lord’s will. An example is given to us during the ministry of the Apostle Paul. From the very beginning Paul was told that his ministry would be to the Gentile world in presenting the “glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. With such an amazing purpose for his life it would seem that the way to carry out his ministry would be clear of any major obstacles. One of Paul’s great God given burdens was to take the Gospel to Rome and from their throughout the Roman Empire.

The circumstances that would allow Paul to get to Rome certainly did not follow a plan that most of us would have envisioned. To bring it to pass would involve years, not months, and eventually Paul would arrive, not as a hero of the Lord’s work, welcomed by great crowds, free to be about his call, but a prisoner. Paul would find that carrying out the Lord’s assignment is not without challenge and an assignment that can only be carried out by faith in the One who called him.

I want us all to notice one such moment when after days of storm, and darkness, Paul and Luke, are on a ship that appears to be headed for destruction and all lives lost. All around them is an atmosphere of fear, and hopelessness, as everyone tries to find the solution to the total chaos they are facing. Then the Bible tells us that after a great period of time when all efforts have failed Paul stands forth and tells them “Sirs, you should have listened to me before we headed out in this direction”.

Paul then tells them that there is a message of hope for everyone on board and it is a message delivered to Paul, by the Lord, during the night. The Lord’s message is one of salvation, for everyone on board, not one life shall be lost. We are going to lose the cargo, and the ship, but our lives will be saved. As we try to move through the storms on the sea we call life it may appear that there is no answer and all will be lost. I think we all agree we can stand getting rid of all the cargo, that we thought was most important, and even the ship, but we would like to know that are lives will be saved.

Paul would make this most important statement in the midst of the storm that threatened everyone’s life, “the Lord stood with me in the night and said we would live and I BELIEVE GOD” (ACTS 27:25). WHAT OUR NATION NEEDS IS THE WORD OF SALVATION, WHICH WE BELIEVE, WHICH COMES FROM THE LORD HIMSELF!

As believers we need to stand up in the midst of the ominous, and threatening, storms and let everyone know that there is salvation in Jesus.

….HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON – BRO. ED


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