As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.) And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.
Being on a ship in the midst of a tumultuous sea is a very bad spot to be. There is a saying from those who own boats: “It is better to be in here (land) wishing you were out there (sea), than to be out there (sea) and wishing you were in there (land). The above passage, Paul and the rest of the rest of the passengers had not eaten in 14 days, while in this longstanding storm. Although Paul had warned the captain of the ship not to sail, they never-the-less did. They have already jettisoned much of the cargo. Now they were worried about their lives. Paul, even though he is highly bent toward the spiritual end of life, is concerned about their physical needs. Like Jesus at the well and needling water from the Samaritan woman, he speaks to them about food and sustenance. He will, in time, speak spiritual truths to them. But he wants to help them care for their physical needs first. There are times that the priority order of the physical and spiritual can change, but this time he wants them to have strength for the task God had told them they would have. Earlier an angel appeared to him about how the boat would be saved, and all of them. He used that spiritual knowledge to encourage them physically. He would later turn their focus, once again, to spiritual matters. In our care for the world around us we might think it is bold to speak up about the spiritual needs of those around us. And, indeed, it is! But we must not neglect to notice their physical needs, as well. Note:
James 2:14-17 (ESV)
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
With all this being true, in the middle of meeting their physical needs, Paul breaks out in prayer. Imagine the other prisoners, the sailors and soldiers response! Here, in the midst of a storm, a spiritual man is meeting their physical needs first, but still focusing them on the God who controls the storm and provides the food. Awesome!!
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