Articles and Poetry by Our Members
| Comfort for Storm-Tossed Sailors |
| Author: Suzanne Holland Entered on: 5/26/2010 8:02:00 AM |
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“Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come.” Acts 27:29 Acts 27 is one of my favorite chapters in the New Testament. The story of this tempest is told in such a way that one can almost feel the waves, hear the wind, and sense the fear and anxiety of the sailors. In the midst of this storm, we are encouraged by Paul’s faith as he tells the men about his conversation with the Lord’s angel the night before, in which the angel assured him no one would die: “Take heart…for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.” Reading on, we find that around midnight the sailors sense they are near land, and so they drop four anchors from the stern and pray for day to come. This point in the story comes after 14 sleepless days and nights during which the sailors are barely hanging on to their provisions, their ship, even their very lives. Fourteen sleepless days is a long time! Have you ever experienced such a trial? Perhaps you are currently spending your nights this way. Have you a concern or care that seems unmanageable? Are you ill or suffering from physical pain? Perhaps you have had a life-changing event or a great loss, and are spending your nights awake, tearful and nearly hopeless. Friend, if this describes you, I have good news. This passage offers you and me hope in our time of despair, if we will take a moment to meditate on what God may be saying to us through this adventure of Paul and his shipmates. Having spent a few sleepless nights lately due to physical pain, this passage holds particular interest for me. I imagine what these sailors must be feeling…intense fatigue, hunger, fear, sadness, worry and probably any other emotion you can think of. Then, along comes Paul with these words of encouragement that none of them will be lost, but the ship must be sacrificed. As I consider this contrast between the saving of human lives and the sacrificing of a material thing, I am struck by the relationship between my spiritual progress and my physical comfort. As I have lain awake these last weeks in pain, I find myself more and more in need of spiritual help and comfort, and I have become much more active in seeking it, fearing that my faith might “run aground” if I don’t. The sailors dropped four anchors before praying for morning. I believe we also must anchor ourselves in Christ as we wait for relief. Since the sailors dropped four anchors, I would like to suggest to you the four “anchors” I believe will help to keep you safe from spiritual shipwreck in your own storm. The first and I believe the most important anchor to drop is faith. It is by faith that we are comforted through the storms and trials of life. Hebrews 11:33 tells us that by faith, the heroes of the old testament “subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” Meditate on this verse, and you will see that it covers every possible category of need that you might have in this life. Take a moment to apply each of these valiant acts to your own life. Are you suffering pain, feeling you can bear it no longer? God can strengthen you to endure it. Are you threatened? God promises you refuge. Are you in the midst of some kind of battle? Rest assured, ultimate victory belongs to the Lord! The second anchor we must drop into the stormy sea of our trial is hope. Held firm alongside the anchor of faith, hope stirs us on and never disappoints us. Hebrews 6:19 tells us that we have this hope as an “…anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” Those two adjectives that describe the anchor of hope, “sure” and “steadfast” are exactly opposite of my human response to the storms of life. I feel far from sure of myself or steadfastly confident in my ability to do the right thing in this trial, or even to survive it! Praise God for this anchor of hope that is both sure and steadfast. Regardless of my emotions, this hope is completely reliable, promised by God, and never changing. No matter how high the waves or how deep the ocean, I am not lost to despair because I have this solid anchor of hope resting in Christ, who cannot be moved. We learn of this hope through studying the Word of God, which is the third of the four anchor. As believers, trials should move us to be in the Scriptures more frequently, and with more fervent expectation of help and comfort. Though one may want to cry, complain and seek worldly comfort, a Christian discipline is to seek that comfort first in the Scriptures. While we may never understand the reason for our trials while we are in this world, it is vital that we seek to submit ourselves to Christ in them. This submission is something that seems to come with more difficulty for some believers than others. Among the Christians that I know, those who came to Christ late in life seem to have more difficulty learning submission. I am one of these. The Lord has sent many trials since my conversion at the age of 35 to teach me to obey and to turn to His Word for the comfort I seek. Even with these trials, my growth seems painfully slow. (Perhaps this is encouragement for those of you with young children to be even more diligent in training them up to know the Lord, that you might spare them this late learning!) Yet, I persevere to know God’s will, and to go through my trials in a way that is pleasing to Him. This anchor of God’s Word is vital to success in this. There is a hymn wherein one line says, “I will build my house upon the Rock through obedience to the Word of God.” Though the analogy is different, the point is the same: if the house is built on rock it will stand in the storm, just as the anchor sunk in the Word will hold the ship from disaster. The fourth and final anchor we must make use of in trials is the body of Christ, His church. I shudder to think what I would have done without my brothers and sisters in Christ over these years of my life as a believer. They have counseled, cared, and helped me and my family in many practical ways. It is they who have stirred me to seek Christ in my fears, encouraged me to pray instead of worrying, and rebuked me when I nurtured a sinful attitude of hopelessness. God’s Word instructs us in this: “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25). In addition to encouraging and exhorting one another against the deceitfulness of sin, we in the body of Christ can offer prayers on behalf of our fellow believers. This is the most powerful and effective use of this fourth anchor. Praise God for believing brothers and sisters who spend time and energy praying for us! We will not know until we reach glory just how these prayers affected the course of our lives here on earth. What a perfect summary of the purpose and duty of the church. If we do all these things, this anchor will never fail us. One other thing about the church comes to mind in this shipwreck passage we are studying: God has provided pastors and elders, and he works through them powerfully for our salvation and sanctification. In verse 30, we find the sailors seeking to escape from the ship by letting down the skiff into the sea while they pretended to put out the anchors. God has gifted pastors to see through our sinful pretenses, and guide us away from foolish choices. Just as He used Paul to advise the centurion that what they thought was escape would in reality mean disaster, so we must heed the warnings of our elders when they exhort and rebuke us in our sin. Once we have dropped these four anchors, what are we to do? Like the sailors in the storm, we must pray: Not only for day to come, but for God’s strength and help as we wait. We are confident that the morning will come, and with it new mercies for us in our trial (Lamentations 2:22-23). Great is His faithfulness! But we also must pray that the new day will bring renewed strength and the power of the Holy Spirit to help us persevere in this trial. Morning is probably not going to bring relief from our pain or a resolution to our problem or fear. In fact, tomorrow’s challenges will most likely be very similar to today’s. The difference will be in our response. This is where God gets the glory. When we respond to our difficulties with godly confidence in Christ, we show the world His goodness and faithfulness. When we talk of our trust in God and the strength He supplies instead of complaining about our pain, unbelievers learn something about Him that they might never understand from an evangelistic sermon. Our trial is an opportunity to show them the goodness and mercy of the Lord. Crying, sadness, and depression are all natural responses to the pain of this world, and I am not saying we should fake it, exhibiting a stoic, soldier-like countenance and never admitting that this is difficult. But we should turn to our Christian family for comfort in these times, crying on their shoulders as they pray for us. Then we will be strengthened and built up to project to others the trusting patience that has been nurtured in the body of Christ. My friend, I hope you will consider these four anchors as you press on through your trial, whatever its nature or length. Faith, hope, the Word of God, and the Body of Christ will see you through any storm. At times, you may need only one of them if your trial is light or fleeting. Other times, you will need all of them, and be unable to do anything except pray for morning. No matter how severe the trial though, these anchors will never fail you. Morning will come, bringing God’s faithful mercies with it. You will be strengthened, and best of all, God will be glorified! |
