It is possible for broken things in our lives to rescue
us in the end.
Every time I read this story in the life of Paul the
Apostle, as recounted by his companion and physician, Luke, the whole
near-death experience comes alive in my imagination. I see it all: the storm
and wind, the waves, the crumbling, fragmenting ship; I hear the cries of despair
and anguish and the one, lone voice shouting, “Be of good cheer, for I believe
God!” Luke says that miraculously all them reached land, by either swimming,
hanging onto boards from the ship, or against all odds,” clutching only mere
pieces of the ship. Can you imagine how terrifying that must have been? I can. A
splintered piece of wood is not much to hang onto, but I would remind you
again, they all reached land.
The Christian life has often been compared to a ship
voyage in both song and verse. Paul talks about Christians who are “…tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine…” (Eph. 4:14). The great old gospel song, “Ship Ahoy” starts, “I was drifting away
on life’s pitiless sea/And the angry waves threatened my ruin to be…” And I
used to sing a rousing song of triumph by Ira Stanphill, that announced, “This
old ship is tossing and turning/But I’m gonna make it through somehow.” It
would seem to me, as in the story of Paul’s shipwreck, all reach that “heavenly
shore” by the miracle of salvation through Jesus Christ, but some reach it
clinging to broken pieces of their ship.
There are those who experience the ravages of broken health, so often the case in
later life. At one time they were robust, vigorous, and untiring. Now they
greet the nights with dread, and the mornings with foreboding. The normal winds
and waves of life they handled quite well for so many years now seem
unmanageable.
Others may suffer from a broken heart. Someone they loved was taken from them, either by distance
or death. Or perhaps they were betrayed and cast aside by one in whom they
placed great trust. The waves that sweep over them are filled with sadness and
hurt; and they feel as bereft as Job, without family or friends.
Still others feel crushed with the aftermath of a broken reputation. They were sailing along
in the breeze of praise and recognition, examples of usefulness and victory.
Then came a gross “fall from grace.” Then the praise was turned to pity and the
recognition to rejection, leaving only the sad epithet: “Their life is a
shipwreck.”
Finally (and this is common after the last broken
experience), there are those who suffer the agony of a broken faith, or a shipwrecked faith, as Paul refers to it in 1
Timothy 1:19. “What’s the use? Is any of it real? Once their faith was strong
and their assurance complete, but now clouds of doubt sweep over their souls and
minds. Disappointment in themselves and others has led to disappointment in God
and mistrust in His love as well as His claims.
To all of these broken souls, I point us to our story,
and the promise that they “escaped all
safe to land.” God didn’t have to tell us that some reached there under
better circumstances than others…but He did. I think He wanted those with broken health to know that God’s grace,
mercy, and comfort of the Scriptures, would be enough to gently carry them the
whole way home. He wanted saints with broken
hearts to know they could cling to the Lover of their souls, who promised, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”
(Heb. 13:5). And the baggage of a broken reputation can be thrown overboard
in time, by repentance and forgiveness. Ask Rahab, Mary Magdalene, and Peter.
Oh, and even broken faith can be revived and repaired! Don’t forget, Jesus
referred to His own disciples at one point as “ye of little faith,” and even faith “as a grain of mustard seed” (Matt. 17;20) can move mountains!
There are those who seem to have a prosperous and sunny
voyage all the way home, with few storms. But not many, I’ll wager. To the rest
of us I say, those “broken pieces of the
ship” in our lives are well able to buoy us all the way home to Glory.
Don’t lament them; latch onto them!
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