Okay, so there's this really awesome story in Acts 27:13-44 and while reading it, I discovered this incredible lesson that I definitely convicted me. Paul and around 200 other ship men were on a ship headed toward Crete, where God told them to go, when a really wild storm approached. Verse 18 describes it as being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, which is a violent storm. After more than 14 days of these awful storms, the other men in the ship were ready to flee. Peter tells them in verses 23-24, "Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be said even as it was told me. Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island." An angel of the Lord had visited Paul and told him that God would be with them as they sailed through these storms, and that they needed to land in Crete. Paul is telling his men to stay in the boat because he trusts that God is going to deliever them like He promised. And guess what? They landed safely. From the beginning, Paul trusted that what God said would come to pass. How often do we want to jump out of the boat when our storms get rocky? We don't trust God can deliver us, we think that if we just handle the problem on our own that somehow everything will be okay. Paul has the attitude of a true servant of Christ's - he trusted even when it seemed like the odds of survival were impossible. He refused to get out of the ship and handle the storms on his own, because He knew God promised to be there the whole time. Isaiah 43:2a says, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." We are promised time and time AND TIME again by God that we are never going to have to go through any trials or tribulations alone. We need to stay in the boat while the storms rage because that's where the promises of God lie. Climbing out to try and manage the problems on our own robs us of the promise of Christ's security. Just stay in the boat. :)
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