”Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. 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. Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.” – Acts 27:29-38 NIV

By the end of this naval trial, Paul clearly steps into a leadership role even if that isn’t an official one. Everyone trusts his judgment even if it’s something like eating all the food they wanted in a situation where they could potentially run out of food on a deserted island, or cutting off a potential alternate route of survival in the lifeboat. None could argue against the wisdom of Paul and of the prophetic nature of his words and their continual fulfillment. People saw God through Paul and were willing to bank their lives on him. Thankfully their faith saved them from destruction. Everyone should place their trust in God and his chosen instruments of revelation and see that they can be saved from all sorts of issues in their lives. If Israel took this advice in the prophets, they could have been saved from exile, but sadly they didn’t. Thankfully, God has still blessed people with more time to choose to trust him and turn to him before the real destruction comes in the judgement. Let’s hope people turn to him through Christ for salvation and let us trust him in the smaller trials in the mean time.