Storms of Association

In my last blog, I wrote about Storms of Disobedience. Now we will be looking at another type of storm, a Storm of Association.

In Acts 27 we find Paul experiencing a Storm of Association. Paul and a number of other prisoners were under the care of a centurion soldier and were being sailed from Asia to Rome. (Acts 27:1-8)

After they were sailing for quite some time, Paul had a bad feeling about what was to come. Paul brought his concern about the possibility of losing the ship and their lives to those in charge. Unfortunately, the centurion went with the advice of those with more experience. (Acts 27:10-11) Paul was a religious man, a tent-maker, and in this case, a prisoner. Paul knew very little about sailing in comparison.

I’m sure most of us would have gone with the wisdom of the more experienced voices if we were put in a similar situation as the centurion. We can’t fault the centurion for ignoring Paul, a prisoner. But, this would later prove to be a nearly fatal mistake.

If Paul wasn't a prisoner then he would've had a choice, but he was forced to go with the choice of those in charge of him, those he was associated with.

Not long after they set sail they find themselves in a violent storm. They were stuck in this horrible typhoon storm for 14 days and nights. It was so bad that the sun and stars couldn't even be seen! After being stuck in an awful storm for 2 weeks, the crew were helpless and had lost all hope. (Acts 27:20)

It can be a challenge to hold onto faith and hope when we are in the midst of a difficult storm, especially when it lasts a very long time! It's one thing to experience a storm, but it's another thing for that storm to go on and on and on.

We don’t have to be worn down by a persistent problem. Instead, we can have faith and patience like Paul. We don’t have to lose faith and hope, instead, we can choose to persevere like Paul!

Paul notifies the crew that he was visited by an angel and all 276 of them would survive, but in order to survive, they would need to be shipwrecked. (Acts 27:21-26) After a short period of time, they find a place to crash the ship and they were all saved! (Acts 27:44)

photo courtesy of freeimages.com

Paul got into this storm because of somebody else, and Paul got out of this storm by perseverance. He had persevering faith even when everyone else had given up and had no hope. If we find ourselves in a Storm of Association, we need to persevere.

We can't assume all storms are caused because of disobedience or because of people we are associated with. Next time we will look at another type of storm, Storms of Obedience.