The God who controls every detail of your life!

     “My eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the   

                    living God, who controls every  

            circumstance of my life.” George Muller of Bristol.

 St Paul was a prisoner on a ship set for sail for Rome. He was a prisoner because of his faith in Jesus. Before the journey St Paul had warned the captain of the ship that it would not be safe for them to travel as the weather conditions would be dangerous but he did not listen to Paul.

The ship encountered dangerous weather conditions to the point where the crew on the ship had not seen daylight for three days. The angel of the Lord appeared to Paul at night and said, “Do not be afraid Paul, the Lord has spared your life and all who sail with you but the ship will be completely destroyed.”

Paul informed the crew and the soldier on the ship that God had spared his life and all who sailed with him but the ship would be destroyed.  He informed all the crew to eat as they would need all their strength to get through the storm. He said to them, “None of you will lose a single hair.”

In the midst of the storm, Paul with all the crew took bread and gave thanks to God. They all ate. They wrestled against the storm but it was too fierce and they had to throw all the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. Some of the crew when they saw a bay of land wanted to jump into the sea. Paul said to them, “Do not jump in the sea in order for all of us to stay alive.”

The captain of the ship wanted to kill Paul but the centurion did not want to kill him. The ship hit a rock and crashed. Some of the prisoners who could not swim hung onto planks of wood to get to shore. Everyone got to the shore.  God in his mercy had spared the lives of all who had sailed with Paul.

You may ask the question why was the ship destroyed and the lives of Paul and all those who sailed with him spared. It was part of God’s plan. Without the shipwreck Paul would not have landed on the island of Malta. You can trust the God who controls every detail of your life. He controls every event.

After they arrived on the Island of Malta. The islanders showed Paul and the rest of the crew great kindness. The islanders built a fire and welcomed everyone.  Paul was standing near the fire and collected a piece of bush wood to put on it. A snake jumped out of the fire and stuck to Paul’s hands and bit him. Paul shook it off without any fear.

The islanders watched with anticipation to see if Paul’s hand would swell up and he would die. They thought he was a murderer even though he had escaped the shipwreck but the goddess of justice had not allowed him to live. The islanders watched Paul but nothing happened to him. Now they thought he was a god. The islanders looked after Paul and the others with unusual kindness.

The leader of the islanders was ill with dysentery problems. Paul laid hands on him and healed him. The Islanders now brought all the sick to Paul and he healed them all. The ship wreck was all part of God’s plan to achieve his outcome. When things appear to be going wrong in our lives we can trust God to bring good out of them. God has always brought good out of evil.

If we look at Paul we can learn from him. He is not overwhelmed or traumatized. This is because he had complete confidence in God. He survives the shipwreck and lands on the island of Malta. Then he is bitten by a snake and shakes it off without any fear. He heals everyone on the Island. He has this amazing confidence in God and that he would take care of him and everything else.

I believe in a God who controls every detail of our lives and we can have the same confidence in him as Paul did.  He was in total control of the circumstances in Paul’s life. We can put our trust in God to take care of us during 2025. The God who controls every detail of our lives.

    Dear God

You control every detail of my life.

You know me completely

You knew my beginning and you know my ending.

You monitor my every heartbeat.

I put my trust in you.

I trust you to control every detail of my life.

And to bring good out of every bad experience in my life.

Amen.

By Harbajan (servant of Jesus).

www.godislove.me.uk

22/12/2024