Reason and Feeling Won't Work

[When] "...all hope...was then taken away..." [it was then Paul said] "be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me... " Whenever experienced seafaring mariners say, as they undoubtedly did to Luke, that any hope of getting out of that particular storm was useless, one is prone to believe the experts. But God has a way of defying the professionals.

The great danger in a saint's life, when the sun ceases to shine and there is a prolonged darkness, is to use human reasoning and go by one's natural feelings. But during such times, it is of utmost importance we remember, it is faith and faith alone that changes our dire situation from gloom to glory. If in the midst of trials we are to have joy and peace we must exercise faith. The scripture tells us, "...all joy and peace [comes] in believing."

A childlike faith, God will never betray. Such guileless trust treats the future as the present and the invisible as the seen. As Oswald Sanders writes, "It [faith] is at home in the realm of the impossible as well as the realm of the possible, for it relies on a God who knows no limitations." The God who spoke to Paul in the midst of this tumult still speaks to us today. God, through Isaiah, promises, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee." And Ezekiel adds his testimony, "[God] brought me through the waters." HE goes in and comes out of every storm, with us.

"A step of faith always involves the acceptance of a calculated risk." (Oswald Sanders)