Today's Reading

Psalms 50, 51, 52 Acts 27:1-25
There are those who publish abroad the message that the Christian life is one free from struggle and strife. It's never been clear to me where this originated. By human standards at least, Jesus didn't get much out of His time on the earth. Neither did the apostles nor most of the Church through most of the intervening centuries. Today's reading in the Acts of the Apostles reminds us of this. Paul is a prisoner being sent to Rome for judgment and eventual execution. Along the way, he is on a boat overtaken by a fierce storm, a storm that eventually wrecks the ship. This is not a description of the circumstances any of us would seek out, yet Paul accepts it all, knowing that the storms of life are not necessarily a sign of God's displeasure with him. He is confident, knowing he is in God's will, and has no reason to fear nature nor man.

Compare this with Psalm 51, the repentance of David after he sinned with Bathsheba. David knew right well that he was out of God's will. That's a very bad place to be, and all of us have been in that spot. Punishment had not - yet - come upon David. It would, of course, later.
All of us go through storms, difficulties, problems. They may be a sign of being out of God's will. They may be a sign of being in God's will. They may, even, just be the result of living in a fallen world.

We need discernment in order to know whether our worldly situation, good or bad, is a reliable indicator of our spiritual health.