Acts 27:25
Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

Paul and the other men on the boat were in a life-threatening storm.  Day after day, it was getting worse, and all hope seemed lost.  Some of them were ready to give up.  They were afraid.  They didn’t know what to do.  Because although men can predict the patterns and the cycles of the seas and the tides and the waves, they cannot control those things.  Sometimes we are just left to the mercy of something that is happening to us, and we can’t do anything to change our circumstances.  We can ride it out and hope for the best.  We can jump in the sea and hope not to drown.  We can panic and fold inward.  Or we can do what Paul did and trust in God.

Faith in God changes our attitude.  It changes how we face the storms of life.  God can give us hope in those situations where there is no earthly reason to have hope.  Believing God’s promises changes our approach to life, the decisions we make, the feelings we have, and sometimes even the outcomes of the trials we face.  Faith in God changes our perspective on the things that are happening to us, because they look different from His angle.  Maybe they don’t seem so scary when we understand who is really in control, when we understand God loves us and is with us no matter what, and He can change things that seem unchangeable.

It was a big storm on a big sea in a small boat, but Paul trusted in a big God.  He was able to have peace in that storm while the others panicked.  He was able to think reasonably about what to do based on God’s promise to him that everyone would survive this experience.  He knew that God could intervene.  He knew  God was powerful and in control.  He knew God could do more than he could imagine.  And he was willing to stake everything on what God had told him, even if he was the only one willing to do so.

So may we have faith in the midst of whatever storms we are facing just now.  Looking to God and listening to Him can bring us peace no matter how big the waves or how powerful the winds.  We have the assurance of His promises and His presence with us.  We can lean on Him when it gets to be too much for us to handle.  We can be of good cheer when we remember God’s got us.  And when we come out the other side of it, we can praise and glorify our faithful God for His goodness to us.