Hope (Acts 27:9-20)

Acts 27:9-20

⁹ Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement. ^f So Paul warned them, ¹⁰ “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” ¹¹ But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. ¹² Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.

¹³ When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. ¹⁴ Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. ¹⁵ The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶ As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, ¹⁷ so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. ¹⁸ We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved. ^[1]

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What struck me today’s passage is the last line.  I can’t imagine what it was like going through what they did, and to be brought to the point of having no hope.

But isn’t Jesus always our hope?  Are we ever at a point of losing all hope of being saved?  Not if we are speaking of eternity.  Not if we are speaking of the ultimate victory and the resurrection.  In this life we may go through many shipwrecks, and there may be times when we despair of all hope for things to work out the way we would prefer in the short term.  But as Jesus told his disciples at the last supper:  “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

Christian hope is not built on wishful thinking – even thinking that things are always going to work out in this life.  Christian hope is not that every cancer will be go away, every lost job will turn into employment, every debt paid off, every marriage saved, every child get back on the right path.  Christian hope is built on the conviction that Christ is with us in those shipwrecks, and will bring blessing into our lives in the middle of them and even in the aftermath of them.  And the ultimate hope is in the resurrection.  And about that, Paul says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:17)”.

And so when we are in the middle of the shipwreck, we may have no hope that this particular ship will be saved, but we always have hope that we will be saved, and that God is with us, and that His blessings will be with us as we come out of the shipwreck.

Our school theme verse this year is Hebrews 6:19, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”  Hope is our anchor, holding us steadfast to Jesus, in the middle even of a shipwreck.

My prayer today is for those that I know who are in the shipwreck right now, who may feel they have no hope.  I pray for them that the peace which only comes from Christ may fill them, sustain them, and give them hope as an anchor.

 

What is the Word leading you to pray about today?

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^[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Ac 27:9–20). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.