HOPE 5 - Hope for Here and Now

Devotional Thoughts about Acts Chapter 27

Hope 5 - English file

Hoffnung 5 - German file

Being on a ship in a storm at sea was nothing new for Paul, who up to this point had already been shipwrecked three times! (See 2 Corinthians 11:25.) At a time when travel was much more dangerous than it is now, he was willing to ac­cept the risk so he could preach the gospel in new places. Although he was trave­ling as a prisoner this time, Paul planned to preach the gospel while in Rome, too.

Public transportation often brings unlikely people together. Besides the captain and crew, the sailors and the soldiers accompanying Paul, Luke and Aristarchus, the remaining 200-some people aboard may have been other prisoners, passengers or tradesmen concerned with the ship’s cargo. Maybe some of them had heard that Paul, a Jewish scholar known for preaching about Christ, was on board as a prisoner.

Once the violent storm had their attention, people threw things overboard on the slim chance that a lighter ship might ride it out intact (27:19). The day came, however, when all hope was gone.

Then Paul spoke up to give them courage, telling of a message he’d received in the night through an angel from God: Paul would live to be tried by Caesar, and all the others on the ship would survive, too. As their nightmare continued to play out, even the details of the wrecked ship and the island (27:22,26) proved true.

Knowing that he belonged to God gave Paul hope in this extreme situa­tion. As he would later write to the Philippians,  either living to be there for others or dying to be with Christ was OK with him if it would bring God glory (Philippians 1:20-25). Maybe some of the other survivors asked him about his hope as they waited on Malta.

Lord, let your hope shine in me and help me tell those around me of its source (1 Peter 3:15).

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