Photo by Micaela Parente on Unsplash
“I just want an escape!”
“I just want a way out!”
“I can’t bear it anymore, I just want it to be over!”
Have you ever said or felt these words?
Most likely you have experienced a time in your life where you were experiencing a great storm. You just wanted relief from the pain! You wanted the storm and trial to be over. You wanted an escape.
The Apostle Paul was enduring a physical storm on board a ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea (Acts 27). Their ship had been caught in a terrible storm. They had not even been able to control its direction because of the fierce wind. They went days without seeing a shoreline, or even the sun or stars. They were tossed back and forth so much they went days without eating. They gave up hope of being saved. All of the things they counted upon to give them security, direction, and strength were taken away from them. They were cloaked in darkness and riding a tempestuous storm not knowing when and where it would end.
It was in the midst of this storm that some of the sailors hatched a plan to escape in smaller vessels. They could take it no longer and wanted to escape. Paul had received a message from God that all who stayed on the ship would be saved. When their plan was discovered, Paul reminded them of this truth and the soldiers cut away the life boats so no one could escape.
They would soon run ashore on a small island and all 276 persons on board the ship would swim and float to safety while the ship was broken up by the reef and surf.
This sea storm is a great parallel to the storms we face in our lives. We have all the things we hold dear removed from us. We lose points of reference that give us security, routine, and strength. We want it to end. We just want an escape!
But hear me on this one! Don’t give in to the escapes Satan offers. Satan says take this illegal prescription drug so you can escape. Satan says you deserve to have this sexual pleasure as an escape for the pressures you are feeling in life. Satan says you just need a weekend of partying and a “good ole time” to help you escape the storm. He tells you to escape from the responsibility and restrictions of your marriage or your parents and do what feels good! He will present you with many escape options, even saying life is not worth living. But all of them are mirages. They will not give you relief, they will only complicate your storm more. They will add misery and pain to the pain you are already feeling.
Determine to stay the course. Do as Paul told the sailors, “Take heart, men, for I have faith in God” (Acts 27:25). Determine to ride the storm out with faith and strength in God. He will see you through the trial. Refuse Satan’s temptations to get you to escape.
