Tue.’s Devo - Paul’s Storms

Read: 1 Chronicles 7:1-8:40; Acts 27:1-20; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 18:22 We read today about the sons of Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher. *** Issachar’s tribe accented its warriors since they were predominately a military tribe. *** Benjamin’s warriors were mentioned in Chapter 7 and his leaders and the rest of the tribe were mentioned in Chapter 8. Saul came from the tribe of Benjamin. *** Naphtali was given two sentences. It gave his four son’s names and reminded us that he came from Jacob’s concubine Bilhah. *** Manasseh had been Joseph’s son who was born in Egypt and grew up in the royalty. He had an Aramean concubine who bore his sons. The wives of his sons were mentioned which was probably a cultural thing to mention the women. *** Ephraim’s center was the town of Bethel. All the other towns were around it. *** Asher didn’t get too much press either, but what they said about him and his tribe was pretty noteworthy. It was stated that they were all select men - mighty warriors and outstanding leaders. *** In Acts, It was time for Paul to go to Rome and Luke and other friends of Paul went with him. Paul and other prisoners were put under the custody of the Roman officer, Julius. Julius was very kind to Paul and allowed him to go and visit friends during their many stops at ports. *** The weather became too dangerous to be on the sea and Paul spoke to the ship officers about it. He saw in the Spirit that if they continued on they would shipwreck and lose their cargo and maybe their lives. But the officer in charge wouldn’t listen to Paul and listened to the captain instead. He disagreed with Paul and kept sailing. *** They met with a typhoon that blew them out to sea and the sailors couldn’t turn the ship around. They had to give up and let it ride with the wind. The gale became so fierce they had to throw the cargo overboard and some of the ship’s gear. Still, the storm raged on for days. The sun was blotted out by the storm and all hope was gone. *** If only they had listened to Paul. God uses everything for his glory and he would use this for the good of Paul and all involved because that is what he does. *** Lord, help us to remember that you are in the midst of our storm and you always have the answer. It is always redemptive. May we learn to wait on your salvation.