ACTS 27:21-26 – 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.”
THEME OF THE DAY. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. The most comforting Biblical doctrine and attribute of our God to His children is His sovereignty. I know some may say, “No, Jim. It is His love.” For sure, God’s love is comforting, but if He isn’t sovereign, then that love is not “in control.” That means things happen in our lives when God is powerless which means His love is unable to be our help and stay. God is love, but God is holy, sovereign love and holy, sovereign mercy, holy, sovereign justice, holy, sovereign patient and everything else about Him falls under the supreme truth of His holy sovereignty. Knowing God is in absolute control of everything in our lives, orchestrating all things in our lives for His glory, our good, and always out of love is the greatest and most comforting truth about Him. And that has implications for every day Christian living. Think with me on two of those implications.
First, we are indestructible until God calls us home or His Son returns. The Psalmist proclaims, “My times are in Your hands” (Psalm 31:15). And not only our times, but our lives. In today’s scripture, the Apostle Paul is in a “Nor’easter” of a storm. The ship he is on is going down. Left to the crew, they have done all they could and it was to no avail. Doomed. Yet, not doomed. Why? The sovereign power and care of God. In the midst of a storm-tossed night, the Lord appears to Paul and says, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you” (Acts 27:24). From a human perspective, it looked hopeless, but from God’s, everything was going according to His sovereign plan. Paul would not drown. He wasn’t done in His work for the Lord. And the same applies to us. No matter how “stormy” life might get, the Creator of the storm is working out His plan in us and using us. We are indestructible in the sovereign hand of our God, but that doesn’t produce a life of presuming upon His sovereign grace. It produces a life of confidence in His sovereign grace.
Another truth about the sovereignty of God in the life of a Christian is that everything happening in our lives has divine purpose. There are no coincidences, chance happenings, or surprises. When life seems out of control, remember it is always in control, not ours, but His. And His control is guiding everything for the purpose outlined by the Apostle Paul in the great eighth chapter of Romans – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30).
Yes, the most comforting doctrine describing our God is His sovereignty. It is the place for the Christian to anchor his or her heart to live a life of joy.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for Your Sovereign grace and mercy in my life that keeps me safe all the way home.”
QUOTE: “Christians are indestructible until God calls them home. That does not make us presumptuous, but confident.”