Shipwrecked

We find the story in Acts 27. Paul’s on his way to Rome as a prisoner. He’s traveling aboard a sailing ship with 275 soldiers, crew, and other prisoners. We know it was after the Jewish day of Atonement – around late October. That was a particularly dangerous time of year in the region for sailing because of violent winter storms. Luke records it this way:

“When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them, 10 and said to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 11 But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. 12 Because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.” (Acts 27:9-12)

Look back at verse 11: “But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul.”

If you know the story, you know the ship runs aground on rocks and sinks into the Adriatic Sea. Paul was right. The Centurion and the ship’s pilot were both wrong. And but for the grace of God, their error would have proved deadly.

The story in Acts 27 is more than history. It serves as a powerful metaphor even in 2025. Most people in the general society – and even many in the pews – are far more willing to give greater credence to the ‘pilots’ of our culture – and even those who ‘pilot’ the Church – than they are willing to pay heed to the prophets and apostles who wrote the Scriptures. We tend to listen more readily to newscasters, entertainers, even next-door neighbors – rather than to those who accurately speak the word of God to us.

We must be careful not to do that. We must be careful to listen AND heed God's true servants than to those who twist the Scriptures to fit their own agendas.

Life’s storms often spring up quite suddenly, and it’s easy to become spiritually shipwrecked because we listened to the wrong counsel.