NOV 02
November 2.
Paul said, "Unless these men stay with the ship—you cannot be saved." Acts 27:31
The sailors were needed to help save the lives of the passengers. Yet Paul had said before, that there should be no loss of life. He had received this assurance from the angel of God. If it was God's purpose that no life should perish—then why did Paul say that unless the seamen stood at their posts and continued to attend to their duties—that the passengers could not be saved? Was God's promise dependent on a few heathen sailors?
The divine assurance did not do away with the use of all proper means for securing deliverance. We are not to sit down and do nothing, when we find a promise of God; we are rather to do bur whole duty, as if the fulfillment of the promise depended altogether upon us! There is no real conflict between these two truths: that God has a plan which extends to all things; and that men are free moral agents, who are responsible for their acts.
Theology may find it impossible to harmonize the two—but common-sense accepts both, and does not worry about the harmonizing . It is clear that the working out of God's purposes depends upon human faithfulness to duty—and that God's purpose of deliverance for us may and will fail unless we do our part. There is no excuse, therefore, for inaction in the assurance that God plans for our good; the plan will not be carried out—unless we work it out for ourselves! Every divine purpose depends on human fidelity .