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Context No. 556 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 27:1-8: in context

1When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band. 2Embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica being with us. 3The next day, we touched at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him permission to go to his friends and refresh himself. 4Putting to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. 5When we had sailed across the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. 6There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us on board. 7When we had sailed slowly many days, and had come with difficulty opposite Cnidus, the wind not allowing us further, we sailed under the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone. 8With difficulty sailing along it we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

Paul is finally on his way to Rome, but as a prisoner, put aboard a ship under a centurion's guard. And it is worth remembering that this voyage is not a detour or an accident; Christ himself had told Paul plainly that he would testify in Rome, so the destination is God-promised and certain. Yet read how the journey actually goes. The winds were contrary, Luke writes, so they had to sail the long way around the lee of Cyprus. Later, we sailed slowly for many days and arrived only with difficulty; the wind did not allow us to go straight; with difficulty we came at last to a place aptly named Fair Havens. The passage toward the place God had promised is halting, slow, and against the wind the whole way.

That is a truer picture of a God-directed journey than we usually expect. Paul knew where he was going and knew God had ordained it, and still the going was slow and hard, the winds against him, progress measured in difficult miles. There is a quiet lesson in that. A journey being slow and contrary is not evidence that you are off course or that God has changed his mind. Paul was headed exactly where God intended, and the headwinds did not mean otherwise; they were simply the texture of the trip. Even the small mercies along the way, the centurion letting Paul visit friends to be refreshed, come mixed into a voyage that is mostly hard sailing against the wind.

That steadies me when my own progress toward something I believe God has for me turns slow and difficult. I tend to read headwinds as a sign that I have misheard, that I should turn back, that this cannot be the right way if it is this hard. Paul's voyage says a God-appointed course can be slow, contrary, and exhausting and still be exactly the right one. When I am making painful, halting progress against the wind toward what God has called me to, do I take the difficulty as proof I am off course, or can I keep sailing, slowly and with difficulty, toward the harbor he has promised?

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