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Encouraging Men Along Life's Journey January 28, 2013
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God In The Marketplace
GETTING THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES - Praying For Daylight
Have you ever had anyone tell you, "I told you so", or "You should have listened to me". Well, in verse 21 of Paul's shipwreck, he tells the other men of the ship if they had listened to him this disaster would have never happened. We must understand, however, Paul is not talking from himself, but from the voice of God. It was not Paul giving them the advise, but God through Paul.
The verse actually states that Paul "stood up before them". In other words, in the mist of the storm when they were loosing everything, Paul was able to exercise leadership. He tells them once again he had received a message from God that all of them would be safe. Don't we wish we could hear the voice of God in the mist of the storm? Or, have we ever had someone come to us and tell us a message they had received from God for us to hear? Would we recognize His voice and would we be willing to listen?
The point being that in the mist of a storm in our live, we should especially be spending time with God and listening to His voice of direction for us. We can only do that when we seek, submit, and stand in the presence of God. Jeanie and I have a very special person who in recent days has been going through a horrific storm in their life. The night before they were to meet for a resolution to her accuser, she was bowing before God for guidance. God had been giving her a special scripture over the last several days, but she hesitated to stand on that word. That same night I was crying out to God to comfort and lead her in this situation. God gave me a scripture to send to her that night. It was 11 Chronicles 20:15. That scripture was the same message God had been sending her,"the battle is not yours, but God's." That next day she went into her storm and the victory was won by God.
Paul further shows leadership by encouraging them to face the situation with courage and not give up. He is the example of faith to all around him in the mist of the storm. We all have people around us looking for guidance and hope in their journey of life. It may be our employees when times are tough in the business. It may be a family member who is facing their storm, or, it may be a friend who is facing a life threatening disease. In these situations we can be that source of faith and encouragement. In the storm of 9/11 ten years ago, those people on the grounds of the Twin Towers and people all over the United States, were looking for hope and answers. Many "stood up before them" and pointed us to the Hope of all hopes.
The scriptures tell us that Paul led the men on board ship in "praying for daylight". Sometimes we simply pray for our storm to be over not thinking about what we might learn from the experience. We just want it over, never mind the lessons that might come from God. We simply don't have the patience or strength to take the opportunity to see what God is up to, or to draw closer to Him. We just want the storm over. But Paul relates to us in this situation that it is okay that we pray for the storm to be over. But while the storm is raging in our life, is a time to seek, submit, and stand on his promises.
In the next few verses, some of the crew lost their faith and tried to abandon ship. But Paul was able to keep them all together in unity. So often we too loose our faith and seek a better way of our own. But we must fight the temptation to cut and run from God's plan. We must hold to our principles and not look for the loop holes.
"For Christians, faith is making reasonable assumptions about God's care and control over our lives, based on His scriptural promises. We may not understand every circumstance or appreciate every event. Sometimes we're backed up to the Red Sea with the Egyptians in pursuit. But God has given us promises, and we disappoint Him when we question his ability to keep His Word." THE RED SEA RULES by Robert Morgan, page 98.
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