“But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.” (Ac 27:21 AV)
Paul was not a sailor. We don’t know how many voyages he took. Paul was not a weatherman. We don’t know how familiar he was with pending weather. But Paul was a discerning Apostle. He may not have known exactly how to sail a ship, navigate the waters, or how to read weather more than a week out, but what he could do was to read the faces and spirits of the Pilot, shipowner, and Centurion. He could see they wanted to get to a better place to winter. They did not wish to remain in a less than luxurious place. They wanted the jewel of the Mediterranean. All Paul had to do was to look on the faces of the experts and see a motive that ignored common sense. He didn’t have to match the experts in their knowledge. All he had to do was rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit to discern the motive and actions of the experts to see if they could be trusted. Seeing they had a less than pure motive, even not knowing what that motive might be, he advised them not to follow their hearts. Rather, he advised them to stay put for the winter. They did not heed the advice of the man of God and struck sail, wrecking the ship on an island inhabited by savages.
Experts can be intimidating. Whether in government, the sciences, medicine, the classroom, or even the pulpit, being an expert does not mean one is always honest or right. There isn’t a year that goes by that the expert medical personnel change treatment or practice because data proved the current protocol as meaningless or harmful. For decades, when a man went to get a physical, the doctor would perform a physical exam to determine the presence of cancer. There is a blood test that can tell the same thing. This physical exam is rather intrusive. The years I subjected myself to them, I always felt more than uncomfortable. It got to where I refused the test. A lawyer friend of mine told me that if I did come down with this cancer and the records showed I refused the test, the insurance company could deny coverage. Yet, I was steadfast. I could not allow this test. When the time came and the topic arose, low and behold, the protocol for this physical exam changed. The insurance companies and healthcare providers realized the physical test had very little profit and the blood test was far more reliable. My intuition told me the physical test was not something science should be doing. I denied it. Outside of being a hospital chaplain, there is no medical background on my resume. I am not a doctor. I am not a biologist. I am not an insurance underwriter. I don’t run a hospital. But what I am is a believer who knows his Bible and was uncomfortable with a test that was questionable.
Paul saw something that told him the plan was a bad one. Again, he may not have known how to read the weather or sail the ship, but what he did know was the look of pride and defiance in the face of a man. He could hear the words used in response to his first piece of advice and note the reasoning for their decision was not prudence. Rather, he could see it on the faces of the decision makers that committing the ship to sea was more about where to spend the winter than about getting there safely. Experts may have good intentions. They may also have a secular worldview. They may think they are genuinely doing good. But because they are atheistic in their thinking, their conclusions may be wrong. It has always amazed me how the word of God often works in subtle ways. We read it from cover to cover, study it, and memorize it. Much of what we learn is obvious and easily put into practice. However, there are portions of scripture that escape the mind until much later. Wisdom comes from above, by the Bible and the Spirit. We can navigate the ethos of very intelligent people. We can pray and be led by the Spirit with no need of the IQ of a genius. This is all possible because God had given us His word, the Spirit, and the gift of discernment.
No comments:
Post a Comment