Confident in the Captain

“So take courage! For I believe God.” These are not the words of a person in denial. Nor are they the words of someone who’s out of touch with reality. They were spoken by the apostle Paul . . . on a ship . . . in the worst part of a storm . . . without any tangible hope.

That is faith. We exercise it when things are unraveling around us and we say, “God is in control. I know He will get me through this, and I know that He’s faithful.” Nonbelievers don’t get that at all. They don’t understand the faith that a child of God can have under difficult circumstances.

Paul was confident because he knew that God was the Master of his circumstances and the Captain of that ship. He knew that God was in control.

In Luke’s Gospel, we read about a time when Jesus told Simon Peter to launch out into the deep for a catch of fish. They already had been fishing for hours and caught nothing. But Peter said, “Master, we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again” (Luke 5:5 NLT).

Then the Bible says, “And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!” (verse 6 NLT).

Here is the question: Will you let Jesus be the Captain of your boat? Maybe it’s smooth sailing right now and things are good. Even so, there might be a storm in your future—and it might be a strong one. You might as well get ready for it. And you can take heart in knowing that you will not be alone. You belong to the Lord, and He will see you through every storm.