David Bahn – Reflections

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Today’s readings are Acts 27; Numbers 29; Acts 28; Psalm 15; Psalm 119:65-96. I hope you will join me in reading these passages.

Acts 27:16-26

Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship’s boat. ¹⁷ After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along. ¹⁸ Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. ¹⁹ And 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 no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

²¹ Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. ²² Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, ²⁴ and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we must run aground on some island.”

There’s an old joke about the man who asked, “God, a thousand days are like a minute with you, right?” God answers: Yes. The young man says, then that means that 1 million dollars would be like 1 dollar, right?” God answers: Yes. The young man says, “Can I have a million dollars?” God answers, “Wait just a minute.”

How do you do with waiting? If you have to wait more than 30 minutes at the doctor’s office do you consider it par for the course, or do you get up and leave? How about the fast food drive through? What’s your time limit?

I thought of these things as I read about Paul’s journey to Rome – especially this portion of it as Luke records: And on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. I can’t imagine having to deal with a storm at sea for three days having both the sun and stars obscured from my sight. It must have seemed an eternity.

God operates outside the bonds of time and space. We are firmly held within both. Not only so, we are so very short-sighted. Think of the 400 years in Israel’s history between the time of Malachi the prophet and John the Baptist. No new Word from God was given — no prophet arose to speak with the authority of ‘Thus says the Lord.’ Finally John the Baptist begins his ministry, preparing the way for Christ.

God was not absent nor inactive during these years. Even in the long silence between the prophets, He was at work preserving His people and His Word. The development of the synagogue system, and the careful work of the scribes in copying the Scriptures, helped keep the Scriptures central in the life of Israel. And although the Pharisees often appear in conflict with Jesus in the Gospels, their emphasis on the authority of the Scriptures and the importance of teaching them played a role in keeping the faith alive among God’s people.

Just because God is unseen or unheard does not mean He is absent. What was true in Israel’s silent years was also true on that desperate ship with Paul and the others.

I’m not certain what was going on in the minds and hearts of the men with Paul on that ship. I know I would be pleading for God’s mercy, help, and deliverance. And I do know that deliverance was to come.

Whatever storms swirl in your life do not despair. There will be a deliverance. God is not asleep nor unaware. He hears your prayers. The storms will one day subside. When they do, give him the glory and rejoice in his deliverance.