Luke had again joined Paul. Perhaps Luke accompanied the apostle to Rome so as to serve as his personal physician. Aristarchus may have been acting as Paul’s personal attendant or servant. Aristarchus was the man who had been dragged into the theater at the beginning of the riot in Ephesus.It is not stated whether the centurion Julius was a believer, but he took good care of Paul. Later, Julius would single-handedly protect Paul and the other prisoners from being executed during the shipwreck.
Waiting for favorable weather, the ship’s anxious commanders had a decision to make: Should they stay put and find winter quarters in Fair Havens (or nearby Lasea)? Or should they push on westward in an attempt to complete their journey to Italy before winter? A guiding principle of sailing was that it was dangerous from mid-September to mid-November and disastrous from mid-November to mid-February.
Paul made his prediction known to the ship’s officers that to continue the trip would result in trouble and danger. Paul’s warning may have been stimulated by his own experience. Prior to this voyage, he had written, in 2 Corinthians 11:25, that he had already survived three shipwrecks. Paul probably was exhibiting common sense from the weather/sailing calendar.
Apparently, by this time the worsening weather conditions had eliminated any remaining hopes of reaching Italy. Leaving the relative safety of Fair Havens, Paul’s vessel encountered a violent storm. The crew tried valiantly to weather the storm but eventually gave up all hope of saving their lives, much less the battered ship.
Paul gathered the ship’s crew and encouraged them with two promises of God: (1) that he (Paul) had been guaranteed safe arrival in Rome; and (2) that everyone sailing with him would be protected from harm. One truth stands clear in the middle of this nerve-racking voyage: Life may get messy, complicated, or even frightening, but God’s will cannot be thwarted!
Despite all the emergency measures taken, the ship was being battered, perhaps even beginning to take on water. Crew members began throwing the cargo overboard (the grain) to make the ship lighter. When this proved inadequate, the sailors threw out the ship’s equipment. Such actions indicate the crew’s absolute desperation. The severity of the storm obscured the sun and stars (by which sailors navigated). The ship was being driven and tossed by the winds. It probably was leaking. A bleak sense of doom and despair permeated the passengers and crew.
SO WHAT? (what will i do with what i have read today?)
How do you respond to desperate times? Do you wig out? Or, do you place your hope and trust in the One who loves you and has a plan and purpose for you?
There is an old Arab parable that says: All sunshine and no rain makes a desert." If you never have any down times, dark times, gloomy times in your life you'll be dried up. You'll have no depth to yourself, no maturity. It takes good times and bad times to make a mature person. Life is a mixture of pain and pleasure, of victory and defeat, of success and failure, of mountain tops and valleys. Today we're going to look at God's antidote to the Dark Valleys of life.
Even in our darkest valleys, our darkest days, God is there. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:4
How do I handle the dark valleys of life? There are four facts about valleys that you need to remember whenever you go through a tough time:
#1. VALLEYS ARE INEVITABLE
They are going to happen so you might as well count on them. You have just come out of a valley, or you're in one right now, or you're probably headed toward one. Valleys happen throughout life -- one right after another. After every mountain top there is a valley. Jesus was very realistic about it. In John 16, He says "In the world you will have trouble." It's not a matter of if, it's when. It's going to happen. You're going to have difficulty, disappointment, discouragement in life. There will be times of suffering, sorrow, sickness. There will be times of frustration, failure and fatigue. They are going to happen. They are a normal part of life. Don't be surprised by it.
#2. VALLEYS ARE IMPARTIAL
No one is immune to them. No one is insulated from pain and sorrow. No one gets to skate through life problem-free. Everybody has problems -- good people and bad people. Problems, trials, difficulties, disturbances, downtimes, depression doesn't mean you're a bad person. It means you're a person. It doesn't mean you're an evil human being; it means you're a human being. The Bible is very clear that good things happen to bad people and sometimes bad things happen to good people. Valleys are impartial. They don't care how good or bad you are.
In Matthew 5:45 Jesus said, "It rains on the just and the unjust too." When we go through a difficult time -- a valley in life -- the first reaction is always "Why me?" Yet really you should ask "Why not me?" Do you think you should be exempt from all the problems everybody else has to go through? Do you think you should be the only one in the universe that never has a tragedy, a loss, looses a loved one? Instead of saying "Why me?" just realize it's going to happen because you're a human being. Remember this is not heaven. Things are not perfect here and there are problems and difficulties. They are going to happen in life -- to good people, Christians. Disasters and tragedies happen to all of us.
#3. VALLEYS ARE TEMPORARY
They have an end to them. They don't last. They are not a permanent location. David says, "Even though I walk through the valley..." The valley is not something you stay in your entire life. It's something you go through -- a circumstance, a situation that has a season to it. When you're in a valley you often think it's a dead end, but it's not. It's like a tunnel -- there is a beginning and end. You go through the tunnel and eventually you're out of it and back out in the light again. They don't come into your life to stay. They come to pass.
I Peter 1:6 says, "There is a wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here." He admits that sometimes you're going to go through tough times. It's going to be rough. Life is tough. You're going to have it. But it's only for a while. There is wonderful joy ahead. He's talking about Heaven. There are no problems in heaven, no valleys, no dark days. While you may be harassed down here, in heaven you'll have no problems. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, that's where you're going.
#4. VALLEYS ARE PURPOSEFUL
God has a reason for taking you through the valleys. Whether it's doubt, depression, despair, discouragement, defeat -- He's got a reason behind it.
I Peter 1:6-7 says, "At the present you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials." He says temporary -- they aren't going to last forever. You are temporarily harassed with problems here. And there may be all kinds of trials. There are financial valleys, relational valleys, emotional valleys, all kinds of different trials. "...This is no accident -- it happens to prove your faith..."
Even in our darkest valleys, our darkest days, God is there. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:4
How do I handle the dark valleys of life? There are four facts about valleys that you need to remember whenever you go through a tough time:
#1. VALLEYS ARE INEVITABLE
They are going to happen so you might as well count on them. You have just come out of a valley, or you're in one right now, or you're probably headed toward one. Valleys happen throughout life -- one right after another. After every mountain top there is a valley. Jesus was very realistic about it. In John 16, He says "In the world you will have trouble." It's not a matter of if, it's when. It's going to happen. You're going to have difficulty, disappointment, discouragement in life. There will be times of suffering, sorrow, sickness. There will be times of frustration, failure and fatigue. They are going to happen. They are a normal part of life. Don't be surprised by it.
#2. VALLEYS ARE IMPARTIAL
No one is immune to them. No one is insulated from pain and sorrow. No one gets to skate through life problem-free. Everybody has problems -- good people and bad people. Problems, trials, difficulties, disturbances, downtimes, depression doesn't mean you're a bad person. It means you're a person. It doesn't mean you're an evil human being; it means you're a human being. The Bible is very clear that good things happen to bad people and sometimes bad things happen to good people. Valleys are impartial. They don't care how good or bad you are.
In Matthew 5:45 Jesus said, "It rains on the just and the unjust too." When we go through a difficult time -- a valley in life -- the first reaction is always "Why me?" Yet really you should ask "Why not me?" Do you think you should be exempt from all the problems everybody else has to go through? Do you think you should be the only one in the universe that never has a tragedy, a loss, looses a loved one? Instead of saying "Why me?" just realize it's going to happen because you're a human being. Remember this is not heaven. Things are not perfect here and there are problems and difficulties. They are going to happen in life -- to good people, Christians. Disasters and tragedies happen to all of us.
#3. VALLEYS ARE TEMPORARY
They have an end to them. They don't last. They are not a permanent location. David says, "Even though I walk through the valley..." The valley is not something you stay in your entire life. It's something you go through -- a circumstance, a situation that has a season to it. When you're in a valley you often think it's a dead end, but it's not. It's like a tunnel -- there is a beginning and end. You go through the tunnel and eventually you're out of it and back out in the light again. They don't come into your life to stay. They come to pass.
I Peter 1:6 says, "There is a wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here." He admits that sometimes you're going to go through tough times. It's going to be rough. Life is tough. You're going to have it. But it's only for a while. There is wonderful joy ahead. He's talking about Heaven. There are no problems in heaven, no valleys, no dark days. While you may be harassed down here, in heaven you'll have no problems. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, that's where you're going.
#4. VALLEYS ARE PURPOSEFUL
God has a reason for taking you through the valleys. Whether it's doubt, depression, despair, discouragement, defeat -- He's got a reason behind it.
I Peter 1:6-7 says, "At the present you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials." He says temporary -- they aren't going to last forever. You are temporarily harassed with problems here. And there may be all kinds of trials. There are financial valleys, relational valleys, emotional valleys, all kinds of different trials. "...This is no accident -- it happens to prove your faith..."
The valleys are not just a freak of nature. God wants to build your faith in the valleys of life. We love to enjoy the mountain tops, but you don't build faith on the mountain tops. You build faith in the valleys of life. When everything is going fine and great you don't really need God. But when you come face to face with a dark valley, you get on your knees. Faith is strengthened in the valleys. When you don't feel like serving and trusting God, praising God... that's where your faith is tested. Not in the good times of life, but in the valleys.
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