Shipwreck!

“In this way everyone was brought safely to land.” — Acts 27:44

For fourteen nights the ship was driven across the sea by the storm. Then, about midnight on the fourteenth night, the sailors sensed that they were getting near land. They measured the depth of the water, and it was getting shallower and shallower.

They were afraid the ship would be smashed on the rocks. So they dropped four anchors from the back of the ship, and prayed for daylight.

Just before dawn, Paul urged everyone to eat something. “For fourteen days you have been waiting, and you haven’t eaten anything,” he said. “Please eat some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from your head.”

Then Paul took some bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. And everyone was encouraged, and ate some food themselves.

When daylight came, they could see a bay with a sandy beach. They decided to try to run the ship onto the beach. So they cut the anchors loose, raised the front sail to the wind, and headed for the shore.

But the ship hit a sandbank. The front of the ship stuck fast and wouldn’t move. And the back of the ship began to break into pieces under the pounding of the huge waves.

The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners, so that none of them could swim away and escape. But the officer, Julius, wanted to save Paul’s life. So he stopped them.

He ordered everyone who could swim to jump overboard first and swim for land. The rest were to hold on to planks and pieces of the broken ship.

And so, one by one, swimming and floating and splashing through the waves, every single person reached the shore safely.

Two hundred and seventy-six people. Not one was lost.

God had promised, through the angel, that everyone on the ship would live. And God kept His promise, exactly. The ship was smashed to pieces, but every person was safe.

Sometimes God doesn’t stop the storm. Sometimes the ship still breaks. But God brings His people through. “In this way everyone was brought safely to land.”

Read it in your Bible: Acts 27:27–44

Dear God, thank you that you kept your promise and brought everyone safely to land. Thank you that you bring your people through hard times. Help me to trust you. Amen.