You must be brought before Caesar

“But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.'” - Acts 27v21-24

Wow! What an adventuresome trip Pail and his team had going to Rome. It was not the nice quiet sailing trip you might have expected God to provide to get His man to Europe to share the gospel.

It was a mess. The sailing was not easy. Adverse seas kept them virtually dead in the water for a time, Paul advised them to winter in Fair Havens but the sailors thought they could make it to Phoenix, a better place to spend the winter. These set sail to make their way there but the then the dreaded Euroclydon struck. Bible scholars debate exactly what this was, but reading the chapter we know that it was a really, really bad storm. The crew and passengers did all they could – they threw stuff overboard, tried to tie the ship together, and just let it drive in the wind. Many days passed without seeing the sun or the stars. They could not eat for the storm. All hope appeared to be gone.

Then Paul stepped forward. “You should have listened to me the first time, but don’t worry. God told me that we are going to lose the ship, but not one life will be lost because you need to get to Caesar.” God graciously permitted the rest of the crew and passengers to be spared.

God had a purpose for Paul. He had to get to Rome. Not even this massive storm could stop it because God was in control. Could God have stopped the storm completely? Of course He could, but He had lessons to teach.

We may not always know the end like Paul did, but we can be assured that no matter how bad the storms may seem God is always in control and He is going to accomplish His purpose.