After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island. It was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. (Acts 28:11, NIV)
Paul’s back on his way to Rome, where God said he would take him. It was a long, arduous, dangerous journey, but Paul was almost at his destination. There are some obvious spiritual truths that we can draw from this story, and one that perhaps isn’t as obvious.
1. Detours or not, God will get you where he wants you to go.
2. If God gives you a vision, he will give you provision.
3. God will give you opportunities to minister to others along the way.
4. God has a great sense of humor.
As I say, some of this is obvious. God protected Paul through a shipwreck, sailors wanting him to walk the plank, and a snakebite. God told him he’d get to Rome – now he’s only a couple of days out. All the while, Paul has prophesied to the crew and his guards, prayed for them, shared his faith with them, encouraged them, and even held a healing crusade on Malta.
My last suggestion might not be so obvious if you don’t know who Castor and Pollux were. They were Greek/Roman gods, twins. You may have seen artwork showing them born from an egg. Anyway, they were the patron saints of sailors. After Castor and Pollux had failed miserably on the last leg of the trip, the sailors were willing to put their lives in these gods’ hands once again. My guess is Luke thought that was ironic/humorous enough to include in his history.
Boy, we humans sure are slow to learn, aren’t we? As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. (Proverbs 26:11, NIV)
