Drifting

For this entire year, I have had the privilege of leading my small congregation through the book of Acts during our weekly Bible Study sessions. We recently completed the book and I was so moved by Paul's last journey - by how a journey God had ordained could turn so chaotic.

In the midst of trying to prove himself innocent to his vicious accusers, God had appeared to Paul, telling him that he would now go to Rome. Paul was currently in Jerusalem, another destination God had revealed beforehand. Not only did God tell him he'd have to go to Jerusalem (Acts 20:22), He also had told him what would transpire there.

"Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” Acts 21:11

After the prophet Agabus delivered this prophesy, Paul's companions begged him not to go to Jerusalem. They believed this prophesy was a warning, but Paul correctly understood that it was in fact preparation. That is why he responds by saying he was ready not only to be imprisoned, but to die for his Lord. This is similar to how Jesus predicted His death to His disciples to prepare them, but instead they took it as a warning and thought it meant they needed to prevent it from happening. This is why Jesus sharply rebukes Peter in his attempt to prevent his death because by attempting to prevent what was coming, Peter was attempting to stand in the way of God's will (see Matthew 16:21-23).

Paul's companions got to where they understood that we don't get to wrestle God's will when it becomes uncomfortable for us, we have to accept it, just as we would accept it had it been pleasing to us. Remember what Job rhetorically asked? "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" Job 2:10

"Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.” Acts 21:13-14

So Paul went to Jerusalem and suffered as foretold. Now this time God had told him he'd have to go to Rome (Acts 23:11). But this time around God gives him no insight about what awaited him. Paul quickly learnt that trouble wasn't waiting for him to arrive in Rome, trouble met him on the way there.
The ship they were travelling by got caught in a terrible storm, but even before this, they had had great difficulty - they were making very slow headway and the wind made it difficult to stay on course. Now add on a storm with "wind of hurricane force" (Acts 27:14).

There's something I like in how they responded to being caught in this storm. When they realized that they couldn't use the wind to gain stability, they let the ship drift (Acts 27:15). They surrendered the need to be in control and let the wind and the waves drive them along. They still suffered greatly, losing cargo and tackle trying to stay afloat, but God again assured them that they were on the right path. An angel appeared and assured them that they would make it to Rome alive - even if they would be shipwrecked.

We need God to help us stop our obsession with preventing things from happening and instead, focus on guarding our hearts when they've happened. Like Martha and Mary, we sometimes think our proximity to Jesus means exemption from 'the worst that could happen'. Just because we've hosted Jesus in our house and poured perfume on his feet, we think it means we have a ticket buying us out of 'worst case scenarios'. So we are quick to inform Jesus when trouble approaches, hoping his presence will prevent it. But sometimes Jesus purposefully delays and allows the unimaginable to happen because it is part of His will for our lives - "his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2).

Sometimes the path to where God wants us is filled with danger and chaos - it doesn't mean we took a wrong turn. When storms hit us on the way there, we need to learn to stop wrestling the waves, to stop trying to gain control over the ship that is our lives and just allow the waves to carry us. To surrender to His will and just drift. To trust God who created the ocean to manoeuvre it to get us to the other side safe and sound.