Comfort in the Midst of the Storm – Acts 27:44

It may have been William Shakespear who popularized the phrase: “All’s well that end’s well.”

Depending on how we use those words, I don’t necessarily have any problem with them.

Unfortunately there could be several things wrong with the idea behind them.

For example: if we mean that the end justifies the means to get there, then the phrase is unmistakably evil.

If it takes murder and mayhem to reach what someone considers to be a good goal, then the goal is not as good as it seems.

If the only way to win the game is to bribe the referees, then winning is worse than losing.

And if the only way to graduate from school is to copy other people’s tests, then obviously the graduate hasn’t learned what he went to school to learn.

His diploma doesn’t mean that he’s qualified to be a brain surgeon.

Another problem with “all’s well that end’s well” is that it might make us forget about how we reached that end.

For example, Acts 27 concludes with: “And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”

Luke, our historian, could have omitted this entire chapter and merely said that eventually Paul made the journey from Caesarea to Rome.

But if that was all that was said, we would have missed some exciting and important lessons.

Every child of God, without exception, is going to reach our Heavenly Father’s House.

But don’t think for a moment that the Lord isn’t concerned about those 20,000 days we spend on earth before we reach the Father’s House.

Verse 27 says that fourteen of Paul’s 20,000 days were spent in a tempestuous wind – a typhoon.

And verse 20 adds that during that fortnight neither sun nor stars appeared.

That is an interesting observation which means a lot more than that neither the sun or the moon could be seen because of the heavy rain and clouds.

The sun and the stars have been used for navigation almost since the beginning of time.

That statement means that the 276 people on board that ship were totally blind – they had no idea where in that great Mediterranean Sea they were.

“And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.”

In the bulletin last week, I printed a little poem by Emily Dickenson:

“Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul,

And sings a tune without words, and never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard.”

Hope is never more sweet than when we are in the midst of Euroclydon.

And no storm can be made any worse than when all hope that we should be saved is taken away.

Once again, I wish that I knew what was in Luke’s heart when he wrote the words of verse 20 –

Was he speaking editorially, generalizing and summarizing the fears of the passengers on this ship?

Or was he expressing the condition of his own heart?

I hope that it wasn’t the latter, but I wouldn’t blame him if that was the case.

The Christian should never be without hope, because he can never fall completely away from the presence of the omnipotent God.

It’s not the size and strength of the storm that is important; it is our nearness to the Lord, which enables us to pass through the adversity of our lives.

Whatever was in the heart of Luke,

it is quite apparent that Paul was spiritually and emotionally comfortable in the midst of this storm.

And it’s that comfort in the storm that I would like to address this morning, because you and I are eventually going to have face storms ourselves.

If at this moment we don’t need comfort, then soon we will.

Let’s think about comfort in the midst of the storm.

First, there are the HUMAN MEANS to comfort.

Verse 14 – “But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.

And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.”

The ship’s first response to this storm was to fight it with every sail in their arsenal.

This ship probably had no other means of propulsion but the wind.

From what I understand it wasn’t a galley with a hundred oars manned by slaves.

What the captain initially sought to do was use the ship’s sails to govern her direction.

But the winds were too strong.

This Euroclydon was either so strong that the sailors couldn’t use the wind the way that they wanted to,

or the wind was shredding their sails.

Another problem with storms like this is their ability to destroy the ship’s wooden rudder, which would have been disastrous.

So the second response to the storm was to “go with the flow.”

After fighting the power of the winds for a few hours, it appeared best to just try to manage it.

Isn’t this pretty typical in human life?

Someone has been diagnosed with a medical problem,

and our first reaction is surgery or medicine to cure it,

but when that fails, we learn to adapt to life with the disease.

This Alexandrian freighter had as many life-boats for it’s human cargo as the Titanic had for its cargo.

In ordinary conditions, to save space the one life-boat was floating behind the stern of the ship.

But when storms arose, that boat was in danger of swamping, so it was hauled aboard.

I can’t picture it large enough to hold more than a dozen people; what comfort could it give to 276?

Isn’t that an apt illustration of the impotent straws most human beings cling to in life?

Religiously, our neighbors think that the sprinkling of a little water will wash away their sins.

They take a vitamin in the morning and an aspirin at night and think that they will live to be 120.

They put $60 a month aside and believe that they will live like kings and queens when they reach 65.

Foolishness –

“Trust in the LORD and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”

The next thing that the sailors did was to undergird the ship.

I had to snicker as I read John Gill’s commentary written over 200 years ago.

Gill said, “People in Paul’s day didn’t have the skill at building ships the way that we do today.”

But what comparison is there between the wooden ships of Gill’s day and the Titanic or the even more modern ships of today?

When the Lord sends an Euroclydon or iceburg, there isn’t a ship made by any man that might not sink.

Apparently Paul’s ship began springing leaks below the water line, and she started to sink.

One of the responses to that was to run ropes over the bow and tighten them up along the hull.

I don’t know what good that would have done,

but I suppose that it would keep swollen and loosened planks from being torn from the hull.

And then as a part of letting the ship run before the storm, the sailors strake sail, or took down the sails.

Another measure was to lighten the ship by throwing non-essential things overboard.

“And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;

And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.”

Over a period of days the passengers and crew were learning that there were lots of things in their lives

that not only were not important, but were actually endangering them.

At that point they weren’t jettisoning their stores of food,

but as the ship began to ride lower and lower in the water, they got rid of extra clothing, furniture, baggage, and even things like spare spars and sails.

Isn’t this also an allegory of life?

As I have ministered to several different people who were dying,

I have been told more than once

that they were learning that so many things in their lives were not as important as they once thought.

For example, I have ministered to people who had hundreds, if not thousands of dollars worth of jewelry.

These baubles were not only useless at extending or improving their lives,

they actually made their owners miserable as people started stealing them or squabbling over them.

What difference does it make to a dying man if he owns a new Lexus or a broken down, old Chevy?

And if he is soon to take up residence in a box, how important is his mansion.

There is no genuine comfort in the wealth of the world.

And in the moment of crisis, if not long before, perhaps those things need to be jettisoned into the sea.

As the storm grew worse, the human means of comfort and help were seen to be more and more useless.

But hovering far above human comfort, is COMFORT OF THE OMNIPOTENT GOD.

“But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.

And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,

Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.”

Do you believe in the existence of angels?

The Sadducees and the liberals scoff at the idea of angels, but Bible-believers know better.

Just as we may not be able to see the human soul, we may not see the angels of God.

But to deny the soul is worse than foolish and to deny the existence of angels in the face of what the Bible reveals is fool-hearty.

One of God’s angels brought a promise to Paul directly from the Lord.

Not only was it reiterated that Paul would live to testify of Christ before Caesar,

but a new promise was added that everyone else on board ship would be spared this death at sea.

I believe in the existence of angels, and I believe that angels have a ministry among each of the heirs of God,

but I think that it’s very unlikely that you and I will ever actually see to recognize a genuine angel.

Perhaps we have experienced the ministry of angels and not recognized that they were angels.

Perhaps they have manipulated natural things around us in such a way that it never occurred to us that they were involved.

But whether or not they have been a part of our lives as this one was in life of Paul, what that angel did has been done for us over and over again.

That angel brought to Paul the promise of God.

Don’t we as well hear the promise of the Lord?

Can’t we hold in our hands the promise of God in the form of the written Word?

What is more sure and guaranteed, the message of an angel or the inspired message of the Bible?

I’m not in a position to say that one is more important or better than the other.

You & I can take comfort in the Bible in exactly the same way that Paul took comfort in the words of that angel.

For the child of God, everything that the Lord Jesus ever said, can be summarized in John 16:33:

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

What a blessing there is in John 14:1 – “Let not your heart be troubled; yet believe in God, believe also in me.”

Eliphaz, the Temanite, may have misunderstood the storm that was crushing Job, but he did perceive the Lord properly.

“Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.”

David had it right: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.”

Psalm 42:5 – “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”

“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Not only is there comfort for Christians in the promises of the Lord, there is comfort in our service for the Lord.

“Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar.”

It is not the same for us as it was for Paul; we don’t have the same promise of God as it relates to our work.

And certainly we are not the Lord’s franchise quarterback with the team riding our back and depending on the strength of our arm.

But if I might over-extend the message of this angel, can’t we derive just a little comfort from the fact that we have a work to do for God and that we are busy about that work?

If the fig tree is producing some fruit, even though it’s not the sweetest and fattest,

then the husbandman of that garden is more likely to say,

“dig about it, and dung it, and encourage it to produce more fruit.”

“And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”

There is comfort in knowing that we have purpose in this world;

that we have the opportunity to bring glory to God;

that we are actually doing something to serve the Lord and to magnify His Name.

I Corinthians 13 is a wonderful scripture.

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”

I Corinthians 13 ends with the words: “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

There is a wonderful trinity of graces: “faith, hope and charity.”

Granted, “charity” is the greatest, with faith following close behind.

But we must never forget the importance of “hope.”

“Hope” far exceeds “strength,” and it exceeds “knowledge” in a great many ways as well.

And we must never forget that these three are fraternal triplets, who never go anywhere unless their arms are linked that their fingers are entwined.

Paul expressed the calm in his heart when he said, “Wherefore sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God.”

I believe God; I BELIEVE God!

All the angels and all the promises of God are nothing unless we believe them, and let them fill our hearts.

The comfort in knowing that God is omnipotent is useless if we don’t have confidence in God’s desire to use that power on our behalf.

That means “faith.”

Incidentally, let me point out a little word with a powerful message; a word which many of us might miss:

“Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.”

We know that the ship was eventually grounded and broke apart on the Island of Melita.

I hope that you have already looked at a map of the Mediterranean, and noticed the size of Melita.

The Mediterranean is just under a million square miles in area; Melita is just over a hundred.

It looks like a speck grass floating on a huge lake.

And if that ship hadn’t bumped into that tiny island, who knows where they would have ended up, assuming that they stayed afloat long enough.

But the angel told Paul and Paul told the other passengers that they would end up on an island.

They wouldn’t hit North Africa which was the most likely; they wouldn’t be driven onto the shores of Italy or Spain.

The Lord prophesied that it would be an island, and a tiny island at that.

And it came to pass.

How much of that fact played a roll in the Paul’s evangelistic efforts among those people later?

Paul had the complete “comfort package:”

He had the angel, the promise, more responsibility,

and the faith in God necessary to see through the storm to the calm on the other side.

So we see here the failing human attempt at comfort in the storm, and we see the success of God to comfort.

Now permit me to TIE Divine comfort and human means TOGETHER.

“But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.

And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.

For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,

Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.”

How sure was the promise, prophesy and guarantee of God, that everyone would safely arrive on that island?

It was absolutely sure.

Well then what was Paul’s meaning in verse 31: “Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved”?

Once again, we clearly see that Jehovah ordains the results and the means to those results.

So all that the sailors and passengers had earlier done to save the ship, was a part of the plan of the Lord.

And when they cast out four anchors to keep from crashing into the rocks during the night, that too was necessary for the saving of the passengers.

So was eating a good meal before the exertion of fighting the breakers.

So was throwing off the owner’s precious cargo of grain.

So was the breaking of the ship and the swimming to shore.

If I understand the narrative,

it was the pilot’s intention to run the ship into the soft sand where a creek rain out into the sea,

but the winds and the currents made them hit a little spit of land jutting out where two seas met.

That too was a part of God’s keeping of His promise.

“And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”

“And it came to pass.”

Those five little words basically mean something like: “and as it turned out…..”

But in addition to that, they quite often are used to express the fulfillment of prophesy: “and it came to pass as the prophet had declared.”

In this case God promised deliverance and everyone was delivered. Amen!

We can and should take courage when we face our storms of life that we too will in some fashion be delivered.

It may be that the Lord actually intends that this be the storm that takes the Christian to the other shore.

We may actually die in this storm.

But for the Child of God, there is still the opportunity, if not the responsibility to live peaceably in the midst of that storm.

Because we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

And if I might quickly make another application:

We see here the blending of God’s will and man’s responsibility within that will.

It may be God’s will that you be saved from your sin and made fit for the other shore.

If that be the case it is also God’s will that you repent of your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

You cannot enjoy God’s comfort unless you are a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Are you absolutely sure that you