Everybody has bad days. And then there’s Paul.
Let’s recap: Paul was wrongfully imprisoned, and then a plot was made to kill him. Even though they were unable to kill him, he was still kept prisoner, awaiting trial for more than two years. A spectacle was made of him. Then he was sent on a boat to Rome that was almost blown apart in a storm, and he was shipwrecked on an island. In the next chapter, he even gets bit by a snake. Talk about adding insult to injury.
While I hope this hasn’t been your particular experience, maybe this story resonates with you. Maybe you’re stuck in what started as a bad day, but progressed into a bad week, and is now a bad season.
Throughout the recounting of this story in Acts 27, we see how people react to this parade of bad events. They don’t listen to each other; they try to run away to save themselves, even when they’re needed; and they even plan on killing those who they’ve been charged to deliver to Rome—all because of situational anxiety and mistrust, combined to bring out the worst in people.
But how did Paul respond? Paul calmly encouraged people, telling them they would be OK, and he listened to the instructions of God. He told the people each of them would survive, and they needed to eat and take care of themselves. It’s likely this behavior saved his life from those looking to get rid of the prisoners.
The way we react when things go wrong is an indicator of the future—not because we go through the day like the sky is falling, but because it is inevitable in this fallen world that we will endure hardship. We get to choose to build that foundation, and like Paul, hopefully, it will be God who delivers us from our storms.
Reflection:
- We can all claim to be our best selves on our best days, but in the times when people need you, who are you?
- What do you cling to?
- What do you fall back on when everything else seems to be going wrong?