Bible Commentaries

Paul in the Storm

Acts 27:22

We have here a page out of an ancient log-book, and it cannot fail to be interesting even to a dry-landsman.

I. In this strange world the good and the evil alike must endure their share of tribulation. On board this corn-ship we have a miniature world. How impartial the tempest. Fire burns the saint as well as the sinner. Storms have no favourites.

II. The world often rejects the sage counsel of the man of God. Paul advised them to steer the ship into the Fair Havens; but the master advised that they should make for Phenice and winter there. The man of God has ever been the despised and rejected of men.

III. The mocking world will discover sooner or later that it is sheer madness to ignore the warnings of the man of God. Paul's true value will yet be recognised. Some men are greater in storms than in calms. The greatness that lives and thrives in a raging tempest is real and lasting.

IV. God honours His servants by using them as His media of communication with the world. The angel of God stood by Paul and not by the captain. "Them that honour me I will honour." God seldom employs aliens, so that if you wish to be His Ambassador you must first be His child.

V. The sublime calmness of the Man of God in the face of danger. The tempest revealed the cowardice and cruelty of the soldiers and sailors, but it also revealed the moral grandeur of Paul. Religion is never so divinely grand as in a storm. Paul saw on the crest of every prancing wave the words: "Jehovah-Jireh," and he was strengthened in spirit.

VI. No storm can thwart the eternal purposes of heaven. "Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Csar." It was God's must, and it had the full power of the great throne behind it. Whatever God promises will surely come to pass. Rome must be reached. "Blessed are the homesick, for they shall reach home."

—J. Ossian Davies, The Dayspring from on High, p207.

References.—XXVII:22 , 23.—F. B. Meyer, Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. p342. XXVII:24.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol1. No2952.—XXVII:24 , 31.—W. H. Harwood, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liv. p24. XXVII:25.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii. No1335. XXVII:25 , 26.—J. Aspinall, Parish Sermons (1Series), p126. XXVII:30 , 31.—J. M. Neale, Occasional Sermons, p44. XXVII:31.—J. J. Blunt, Plain Sermons, p301 J. Aspinall, Parish Sermons (1Series), p73. XXVII:34.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. ii. p270. J. G. Greenhough, The Mind of Christ in St. Paul, p276. XXVII:39.—Expositor (6th Series), vol. x. p362. XXVII:41.—A. H. Bradford, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi. p147. XXVIII.—Expositor (4th Series), vol. i. p79.