by In Acts 27, Paul was a prisoner, bound and shipped off to Caesar. He finds himself in a safe haven for the winter, and advises that if the captain sails on that their “voyage will be with hurt and much damage” (27:10-12). His advice is ignored and he must spend weeks at sea in a vicious storm. The rest of the chapter equates to a shipwreck in Paul’s life. We’ve all been there, we did nothing to deserve it, we tried to give fair warning to those around us, yet we got tangled in someone else’s shipwreck.
In Acts 28, Paul finds himself out of the frying pan and in the fire! Wet and cold from the storm, Paul comes face to face with Barbarians. Then, while gathering wood for the fire, a viper bites him. Then, he is once again accused of being a murderer, under the judgment of God. Then, when he doesn’t die from the snake bite, he becomes a god to the Barbarians. Then, he spends 3 months with no Christian fellowship before setting sail once again for Rome. Then, he finally found friendly faces, where he sighed in relief and “thanked God, and took courage.”
The thought here isn’t so much to encourage us to lift ourselves up by the bootstraps and muster up thanksgiving and courage. The key is the welcoming committee of friends. These could not take Paul out of his shipwreck nor unshackle him from his circumstances. It was simply their presence and exhortation (Hebrews 10:25). To meet him there was a sacrifice that Paul would have taken to heart; they had journeyed over 40 miles to Appii and another 10 miles to the three taverns just to encourage him (and not with 2024 modes of transportation).
You and I may not be able to do a thing to remove the shackles and bonds of someone’s shipwreck, but our presence alone may be all that’s needed for them to get through their circumstance and come out the other end thanking God and taking courage. Let’s be that sacrificial friend that someone needs this week.
Often we may think it a waste to visit someone, feeling worse for ourselves because we cannot lift them out of their situation, when in reality they do not expect us to do that, they just want a familiar face and someone to pray with. To get out to visit our shut-ins is a sacrifice for most of you, but one that leaves fellow believers THANKING GOD AND TAKING COURAGE in the midst of their shipwreck that we can do nothing about.
