Scripture
33Just as day was dawning, Paul urged everyone to eat. “You have been so worried that you haven’t touched food for two weeks,” he said. 34“Please eat something now for your own good. For not a hair of your heads will perish.” 35Then he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it. 36Then everyone was encouraged and began to eat— Acts 27:33-36
Observation
Who thanks God in the midst of a shipwreck? Who has the Lord’s Supper on a sinking ship? A man with a promise is a powerful force to behold. The word of God from an angel in the night was all Paul needed to change the atmosphere from panic to peace, from fear to faith, from crying to courage. It wasn’t Paul’s fault he was in this precarious situation. He had even warned the captain to not set sale from Good Harbor and was ignored. Yet, Paul didn’t play the victim card screaming “I told you so.” Paul didn’t play the revenge card yelling, “God’s going to save me, but you get what you deserve!” No, Paul spoke the word of the Lord to a bunch of sinners on a sinking ship who were about to see what it looks like when a man who has died to himself lives for Christ! As they ate their crusty bread it was transformed into The Lord’s Supper knowing it wouldn’t be their last supper and that not a hair on their head would be harmed. All it took was one man who knew that if God said it, He would do it and everyone would see it!
Application
This has to be one of my favorite scenes in all of Scripture. I have a very difficult time thanking God when I’m suffering for someone else’s stupid choices. Paul was able to focus on the promise instead of the problem. He focused on the words of the Lord instead of the words of accusation from those around him. He started this fateful journey out to sea as a man in chains and by the time the whole crew walked safely to shore they were all following his lead. How can I lead like this? How can I stand on His promise in the midst of a sinking ship? How can I show care for those who could care less for me? I saw the key in the breaking of bread. The man who has thankful lips on a sinking ship will have words of life in places of death. The man who is able to break bread won’t easily be broken by the circumstances around him. Communion shouldn’t be reserved for the dulcet tones of a quiet Sunday service. J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of Lord Of the Rings, wrote a letter to his son that taps into the sustaining power of the Lord’s Supper:
“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament… There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death. By the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste -or foretaste- of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained, or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man’s heart desires.
The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion. Though always Itself, perfect and complete and inviolate, the Blessed Sacrament does not operate completely and once for all in any of us. Like the act of Faith it must be continuous and grow by exercise. Frequency is of the highest effect. Seven times a week is more nourishing than seven times at intervals.
Also I can recommend this as an exercise (alas! only too easy to find opportunity for): make your communion in circumstances that affront your taste.
Prayer
Jesus because You died the fear of death in dire circumstances no longer has a hold on me. Jesus because Your blood was shed for me I have been made clean and my future is clear! Because You rose from the dead I will too! Communion in the middle of the crashes and clashes were keep me anchored to Your promises in the midst of the storm. I often wish you would take me around the storm, but You faced The Cross and I must take up The Cross and follow You through it! Let my lips be filled with praise no matter what circumstances are going on around me. Let me focus on Your promise in the midst of my problems.
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