Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Is God Always Good? | New Testament | Acts 27

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

When life is really hard and nothing is going your way, can you still trust God? Will God really be faithful to his promises? In today's episode, Jensen shares encouragement from Acts 27. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Acts 27.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. God is good. And God is a God who keeps his promises. Both of these things are true. But there have been times in my life where I've questioned whether they are. When I faced a long season of loneliness, when our family experienced heart- aching loss, when I struggled through postpartum depression and a baby that just wouldn't sleep. I found myself asking, is God really good? Will he really be faithful to his promises? Can I trust him?

Sometimes it's not even huge difficulties I'm facing that make me question God's faithfulness. In the everyday letdowns and disappointments, when my kids are acting up, when my husband is late coming home from work, when I don't find the time to get my work done and deadlines are approaching. When I have an uncomfortable interaction with a friend, I find myself feeling sorry for me and spiraling into a place where everything is bad. I wonder why God isn't blessing me like he blesses others with perfect kids, husbands with less hectic work schedules, more time to get their to-do list done, and more friends than me. And I find myself feeling alone, believing God has forgotten me. And what I'm feeling this way, in the big or the little moments of difficulty, phrases like, God is good, God is faithful, God keeps his promises, can't always penetrate

the self-pity, the sadness, the fear, the loneliness. A short phrase feels like a band-aid. I fail to see how that truth can really be true when I look around and see difficulty. And I think Luke knew that when he included chapter 27 in the book of Acts. You see, when you read chapter 27, there are parts of it that don't feel like you're reading from the Bible. It feels more like a very detailed adventure novel. This chapter shares in extremely specific detail the first part of the journey that Paul takes as he sails to Rome. We learn about specific ports that he stops at. We hear about specific exchanges he has with the sailors about the weather.

and it shares in painstaking details what leads to their shipwreck on the island of Malta. Earlier in Acts in chapter 23 verse 11, we learned that the Lord has promised that Paul will testify about the gospel in Rome, just as he has done in Jerusalem. And so, the narrative that Luke is telling has the purpose of letting us know that God does, in fact, deliver Paul to Rome just like he said he would. God is faithful to his promise in Paul's life. Now Luke could have just skipped over the details, told us that Paul's ship wrecked, but God was faithful and delivered him to Rome like he said he would.

But he doesn't do that. No, instead he includes all these details. Why? Why get into the weeds of who said what and where? Well, as I was wondering this myself and studying the passage, I realized that there was something important to be learned from the inclination. of the details in this chapter. See, while chapter 27 could have been much shorter, I think that when we dive into the details provided in this story, Luke is absolutely reminding us

of the fundamental truths that God is good and faithful to his promises. But he is also showing us exactly what that looked like for Paul, both to encourage us and to instruct us on what it looks like to actually believe and live out those truths. Let's take a closer look and see how he does that in Chapter 27. So far in the chapter, we've learned that Paul was transferred into the care of a centurion along with other prisoners and has boarded a ship set for Rome. They've sailed to many different places and now have docked at a harbor when we hear this exchange, verse 9.

Since much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because even the fast was already over, Paul advised them saying, sirs, I perceive the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives. But the Centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. Verse 9 tells us that they're about to embark on a voyage

at the time that fast has already ended. And that may not mean anything to us, but this is a time in late fall, when voyages like this would become extremely dangerous for sailing vessels. Paul, knowing this, tries to encourage the Centurion to stay put for the winter, to not put the ship and those on it in danger. But the Centurion does not listen, and because of this, they sail into an incredibly tumultuous storm. In the following verses, we learned that the storm lasts for many days,

and the sailors do everything they can to keep the ship from sinking. And in the midst of this, Paul addresses the ship in verse 21. Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, Men, you should have listened to me and not set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you 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. But we must run aground on some island. Paul continues to believe that God will be faithful. And God has yet again reminded him of his promise and even told him that there would be no loss of life on the ship. Paul clearly has faith in the promises of God, and he wants to encourage those around him with those same truths. Now, I don't know about you, but if I was Paul, I would be sorely tempted to doubt and question God in the moment. I'd be looking around me at the rising waters, the raging seas, the fact that I'm a prisoner without any power and be wondering how in the world God was going to be faithful to his promise. But Paul has faith. He believes that God will deliver him and all the men on board. And this belief could very easily also motivate him to

just sit back and wait for God to do his thing. Paul's a prisoner on board. He doesn't have any power over what happens. And the last time he suggested something, they didn't listen. So why not? Just sit back, let go and let God. But he doesn't do that. In the next few verses, we learned that out of fear, many of the sailors attempt to escape on a small vessel to save themselves. But this action would have left all the prisoners and soldiers on board without any knowledge of how to sail the ship, which would have almost certainly led to their death, Paul being among them. And so Paul tells the centurion not to let them go or else they cannot be saved. So the soldiers come cut the ropes of the smaller boat and let it go. Luke then tells us that Paul urges everyone on board

to eat some food. It seems they had been fasting, but Paul knows that they face another storm and a shipwreck. And if they are to survive, as God has promised, they need to have their maximum strength. And so finally, in the last few verses of chapter 27, we learned that their ship hits a reef. And though the sailors want to kill the prisoners so that no one escapes, the Centurion steps forward in hoping to save Paul and keeps them from fulfilling their plan. And because of this, all on board were brought safely to land. Paul knows that he is bound for Rome, both by the authorities of the Roman Empire, but also because God has promised to deliver him there. He believes in the power of God to deliver him and all the men on the people. board to safety, but he doesn't sit back, let go and let God. No, he takes action. He first, all the way back at the beginning, urges the centurion not to sail when it's dangerous. He knows he will get to Rome, but he uses wisdom and discernment and his knowledge of the weather to try and keep his ship from hitting rocky seas. Then, after his urging is ignored, he still seeks to keep

all the sailors on board, knowing that with them all of the men on the ship can be saved, not just those on the getaway boat. And even still after this, he uses common sense to encourage the men to eat, knowing they'll need their strength to survive. And finally, because of his good relationship with the Centurion, we learn that his life and the lives of the prisoners are spared again as they all make it safely to shore. Luke could have certainly skipped over these details. But I'm glad he didn't, because these details show us a really incredible truth about God's sovereignty. And that truth is that we have a part to play, and it's not always easy. God is faithful, and Paul knew this.

But Paul still faces difficulty. And instead of doubting God's faithfulness or believing God, but sitting back and letting him do the work, His belief in God's faithfulness compels him to partner with God in his mission. God's promise to deliver didn't excuse Paul from using common sense and taking action. God's promise to deliver also didn't mean that Paul would have an easy journey to get to Rome.

Paul knew that because God is sovereign and he is on a mission to spread his gospel and deliver Paul to Rome, that he had a role, to play in God's bigger story. See, Luke's inclusions of the ups and downs, the difficulties, the details remind my heart that God is faithful even when it looks like all hope is lost. And that even in the midst of pain, uncertainty, interruption, and difficulty, I am called to partner with God in building his kingdom and bringing about his promises.

You see, the certainty of God's promises does not mean an easy life free of difficulty or action. Now, the certainty of God's promises is exactly what should motivate you and me to step up in the midst of difficulty, to take action, and to make choices that move us and those around us towards God's mission. Now, we may not have a specific promise like Paul did about going to Rome to testify about the gospel, but the Bible is full of promises for God's people. Most assuredly, we know that God has promised to sustain us until the day that he returns and brings resurrection to our broken bodies and his world. And until that day comes and his promise of resurrection and restoration are finally fully fulfilled, may you and I believe in the truth of that promise and allow it to compel us

to partner with God in the building and restoration of his kingdom.