Thomas Yukich
Acts 27:23
Have you ever been on the sea or the ocean during a storm? I cannot imagine the type of storm that the apostle Paul and his companions experienced that is described for us in Acts 27. Paul and Luke (maybe other companions, too) were sailing from Caesarea to Rome where Paul would stand on trial before Caesar. Their travels were slowed because of bad weather (Acts 27:7-8) and Paul warned the captain of the ship and the Roman centurion to stay put in a certain harbor. Nevertheless, they made the decision to forge on ahead with the trip, even though it was a dangerous time of the year to sail (Acts 27:9, 12). Before long, Paul and the ship encountered a terrible storm. It was so bad that the sailors threw the ship’s cargo and tackle overboard to lighten the ship. The storm would last for fourteen days (Acts 27:27). The rest of the story is fascinating, but in the middle of the account Paul says a few words that hold a lesson for us.
Sometime in the middle of that storm, Paul stood up and urged all his fellow travelers to “take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 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.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told” (Acts 27:22-25). Did you notice what Paul said about God? He called him “the God to whom I belong and whom I worship.” Although this is not the main point in the story, it is incredibly important. With these simple words, Paul is stating two great truths about God.
First, God is the One to whom Paul belongs, and by extension, to whom we all belong. We belong to God in more than just one way: we belong to him because he created us, and we belong to him because he saved us and called us to be his children. There is no doubt in Paul’s mind; he knows that he belongs to God. Second, God is the object of Paul’s worship. Truly, God is the only rightful object of our worship. Nothing else and no one else deserves our worship. Yet God is entirely worthy of our worship, for he is perfect, holy, just, and loving. He is a jealous God who will not give his glory to any other, meaning that it is an insult against God to worship anything other than him. Paul knew that God is only One who deserves worship. Do you have this same clarity in your life? Let’s take a lesson from Paul by remembering that God is the only One to whom we belong and whom we worship!