Jumping Toward Safety

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

JUMPING TOWARD SAFETY

Acts 27:39-44

39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40 Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. 41 But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf. 42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. 43 But the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44 The rest were to get there on planks or on pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land in safety.

NIV

On the surface, this is a record of the attempt to run the ship aground and the subsequent breaking apart of the ship, with all souls making it to shore safely. However, there is an underlying parallel or a metaphor of life in the sea of sin. We could try to sail the open sea of life, but as the 276 souls aboard the ship discovered, storms can take life in a completely opposite direction from the course planned. The Lord had assured Paul that all aboard the ship would be saved, and that is exactly what happened when the ship hit that sandbar, and the stern began to break up as it was being pounded by the surf. Some were able to swim; others used pieces of the broken-up ship to float to the shore, yet all souls were saved. There could be times when it seems our lives are simply being pushed around by some storm, taking us off the course we had planned. But the Lord needed us to run aground, hit a sandbar, and break us apart so that we could swim toward his safety. It might also be possible that although we have already declared ourselves to be Christians and are attempting to live by some standard we believe is scriptural, we could be drifting off course. We have the correct compass for our lives, and we have the Lord standing at the rudder ready to take us on the right course, or path he has planned out for us, but we might want to take hold of that rudder and try to sail our course. That might be when the Lord intervenes with a storm to drive us off our course toward the place he has prepared for us to land safely.  Those onboard the ship, when daybreak came, did not recognize the land. They were headed into an unknown shore. When the light of Jesus came into our lives, we recognized his light, but at the same time, we were sure of where we were headed. Still, it seems we could get distracted by other places along the way, and that is when the Lord needs to take charge of the rudder and steer us to the open shore of heaven. We can hoist the sails, but let us leave the rudder of our lives in the hands of the Lord.  In another sense, we might have to jump ship that we want to steer, and swim to the safety of the shore with Jesus, so that we are jumping toward safety.