Crisis is an opportunity!
“For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.' Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told” (Acts 27:23-25).
How should we view the crisis in our lives?
When we encounter a crisis, we often think, "Why did this crisis come to me?" When we do that, we sometimes blame another person for thinking that the crisis has come to us because of that person. If we do so, then we tend to focus on the crisis that we have faced. As a result, we don’t see others other than ourselves in crisis. And we are even more depressed in despair by falling into the swamp of crisis and losing the desire of salvation. Is this the reaction of the crisis that God who controls the crisis wants from us?
The lesson is that crisis is a good opportunity to hear God's voice.
When we look at the context of Acts 27:23-25, we see Apostle Paul and the 275 people who aboard with him faced a crisis. The reason why the crisis came was that the centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius (v. 1), who was escorting Paul to Italy, believed more in the words of the pilot and the captain of the ship than Paul's words (v. 11). Here, the Paul’s word was “with difficulty sailing” (v. 8) “the voyage was not dangerous” (v. 9). So Paul 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” (v. 10). But the centurion Julius didn’t listen to Paul's words, but listened to the words of the pilot and the captain and sailed on (vv. 11-12). At that time, the centurion Julius, the pilot and the captain of the ship thought that since a moderate south wind came up they supposed that they had attained their purpose (v. 13). In other words, the centurion Julius, the pilot and the captains thought that their decision was right. “But before very long there rushed down from the land a violent wind, called Euraquilo” (v. 14). As a result, the ship was caught in it and couldn’t face the wind (v. 15). Because of this crisis, the people were afraid (v. 17), and later their hope of being saved was gradually abandoned (v. 20). In the midst of this, Paul said to them, “Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship” (v. 22). How could Paul have said this? It was because he heard through the messenger of God, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you” (v. 24). In other words, Paul heard the voice of God in crisis. This is the first lesson that today's text gives us. The lesson is that crisis is a good opportunity to hear God's voice.
What do you think? Do you think the crisis is a good opportunity to hear God's voice? Have you ever heard the voice of God in a crisis before? When I reflect back my life, I think I heard a lot of voices of my own voice or of situation, rather than listening to God's voice in my life crisis. When my first baby was lying in the intensive care unit due to illness, I looked at the sick baby and let the situation to speak to me rather than listening to God’s voice. Then, after asking whether to let the baby die slowly or die quickly from the doctor in charge, I went home and the next morning God gave me the words of Psalm 63:3, “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.” Through this word, God taught that God's eternal love is better than the 55 days life of my first baby Charis, and that I and my wife should praise Him with our lips. So my wife and I decided to let Charis go quickly and let her doctor know our decision. Then, I called my parents, my siblings and had worship. After worship, Charis’ nurse took all the tubes out and turned off all the machines connected to my baby. And she fell asleep in my arms. Then, after cremating the baby, sprinkling the baby's ash into the water, as my wife and I were returning to the land, the indwelling Holy Spirit powerfully work in my heart to open my lips and praised God the gospel song "My Savior's Love". All of this was the grace that God let us enjoy in the midst of the crisis.
The second lesson is that crisis is a good opportunity to love our neighbors.
We become self-centered when we face crisis. When we meet a crisis, we become self-absorbed. My wife and I were like that when my first baby Charis was in the children hospital intensive care unit for 55 days. I didn’t know I was self-absorbed until my wife told me that we seemed to be "self-absorbed". At that time, even though I knew that my fourth uncle and my youngest uncle were in a very difficult situation with their business, I was concentrating on my first baby. And my excuse was that the life of a person is more important than a difficult situation of a company. But this was because of my insecurities and immaturity and I couldn’t see the crisis as an opportunity. But a truly mature Christian can use his or her crisis as an opportunity to love his or her neighbors. That is what the apostle Paul did.
Apostle Paul loved his neighbor as Jesus commanded when he met the crisis. He encouraged the 275 people who were with him (v. 37), when their lives were in danger. Paul urges them to keep up their courage (vv. 22, 25). He was able to do so because he heard the voice of God through the messenger of God, and he believed God that it would turn out exactly as he had been told (v. 25). In other words, because Paul believed what he heard from the angel of God, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you” (v. 24), he was able to encourage the 275 people who were with him to keep up their courage. Those who have confidence in salvation can reassure those who are afraid of the uncertainty of salvation.
Those Christians who have received the God’s saving love reach out to those who have no hope of salvation and share Christ's love. Those Christians who enjoy the God’s saving love obey Jesus’s command “Love your neighbor as yourself” by comforting, exhorting and encouraging those who don’t enjoy His saving love. In other words, those Christians who experience the Gods’ saving love and have assurance of salvation make their crisis as an opportunity to love their neighbors.
The third and last lesson is that the crisis is a good opportunity to experience the glory of God's salvation.
Apostle Paul comforted those who had no hope of salvation because he had confidence in salvation. In the assurance and hope of salvation, he encouraged them to take some food, saying, “not a hair from the head of any of you will perish” (v. 34). After he said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all. And he broke it and they began to eat (v. 35). All the others were encouraged and ate the food (v. 36). How amazing is this? How can we thank God in the midst of a crisis at the crossroads of life and death?
We Christians can give thanks to God even in circumstances that seem ungrateful. The reason is that we have experienced the God’s saving love and we have a hope and assurance of salvation. Furthermore, we can thank God even in circumstances that seem ungrateful for us because we see the glory of God's salvation and experience the presence of God in His actualizing the hope of our salvation. We cannot but give thanks, praise, and worship God when we experience the glory of God's salvation. In the end, the crisis in our lives is a good opportunity for us to be raised as true worshipers whom God seeks. In other words, through crisis in our lives, God is raising us up as true worshipers who give thanks to God.
We must take the crisis as an opportunity. We must make the crisis in our lives as the opportunity to hear the voice of God. We must be quick to listen to God's voice in the crisis. Also, we must make the crisis as the opportunity to love our neighbors. We must reach out to our neighbors in crisis and comfort them and encourage them with faith in God that it will turn out exactly as we have been told. In particular, we should give hope and assurance of salvation to our beloved neighbors who are suffering in despair with the assurance and hope of salvation even in crisis. Finally, we must make the crisis in our lives as the good opportunity to experience the glory of God's salvation. Our God is a good God. Our God uses even our crises and works together to do good. Our God is a faithful God who fulfills the promises which He has given to us. And this faithful God is the God of salvation who will surely deliver us from the crisis. Let us all experience the glory of God's salvation in expectation, waiting, and praying for the grace of salvation.