Every Christian has experienced an emergency and cried out to God to save them—to rescue them. But not everyone is happy with how God chooses to do this. We can fall into the trap of insisting that He save us however we want. But God often rescues us in unexpected ways.

Consider what happened to Paul in Acts 27.

The apostle had been arrested and brought before Festus and Agrippa and used his right as a Roman citizen to have his case by Caesar. So off to Rome he was sent, by boat, along with other prisoners:

We boarded a ship from Adramyttium about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us (Acts 27:2).

The sailing was challenging and soon became dangerous. Paul warned them that they could lose their ship and their lives, but the crew pressed on, hoping to spend the winter in Crete:

But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest (Acts 27:11-12).

However, the ship was caught in hurricane-force winds and was badly battered by the sea, unable to do anything but to be driven by it. They tied down the boat, but it was taking on water, and they made the hard choice of dumping the cargo and the tackle:

The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved (Acts 27:16-20).

However, without the cargo, the men had no food. They were not only caught in the storm, but began to starve. What Paul stood up and told them that had they listened to him, they would have had a better outcome:

After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss” (Acts 27:21).

This may be evidence of God's " middle knowledge,” which is God’s knowledge of how things would have turned out had people made different choices. Paul’s words also show that we can make bad choices that put us in a worse position than necessary. The ship’s crew didn’t have to suffer so much loss. They could have been spared it, but they brought that damage upon themselves because of their bad choices.

However, there was still hope. Paul received an angelic vision that informed him of God’s plans. It turns out that God desired Paul to stand trial before Caesar, and because of that, He would spare Paul’s life. Thanks to Paul, God would also spare the lives of the other men on the ship. However, the ship itself would be destroyed:

“But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.” (Acts 27:22-26).

God promised to keep Paul and the crew alive. But their deliverance wouldn’t come easy. It could come through the destruction of their ship.

As the storm raged, the sailors feared running the ship aground and wanted to escape in a lifeboat. However, God wouldn’t allow it. To be saved, they had to stay with the boat that God had said would be destroyed!

In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away (Acts 27:30-32).

The men had to let the lifeboat drift away! In the thick of the storm, they had to let go of their one last symbol of earthly security and rely solely on God.

As they were driven on, the sailors saw land and tried to run the ship onto the beach. But even that would be too easy. Instead, the boat hit a sandbar:

But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf (Acts 27:41).

It looked like they would drown so close to land. Rather than let the prisoners escape, the Roman soldiers were preparing to kill them, including Paul. But through God’s providence, the centurion wanted to spare Paul. But their rescue wouldn’t come easy:

The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely (Acts 27:42-44).

Every reached land safely. But no ship came to the rescue. They did not fly to the land on angels’ wings. Some men were saved after swimming for their lives through the pounding surf. Others kicked and paddled up and over the swells, gasping for breath as they floated to shore on bits and pieces of the ship. They made it safely, but it was a harrowing experience. They lost their cargo, their tackle, lifeboat, and ship. But they kept their lives.

This episode tells us something about how God can come to rescue us.

Eternal salvation is easy and free—given by grace to whoever believes in Jesus (cf. Eph 2:8-9). But when God rescues you from the trials and tribulations of life, He may not do that in the way you’d expect. Sometimes, your bad choices will make the rescue harder than it needed to be. You might want to be saved with your ship and cargo intact or at least experience the relative comfort of a lifeboat. But God might choose a different way—an unexpected and maybe unpleasant way. He might decide to save you by having you cling to the little bits of wreckage of your best plans

Like Paul and the sailors, you might have to let go of your own ideas of security and trust that God will save you through the storm, but not necessarily from it.

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Send your questions or comments to shawn@freegrace.in.

Read his latest book, The Myth of Tithing and the Joy of Grace Giving by getting it from us or from Amazon.