"Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up."
There is a sense in which desperation and/or despair is not such a bad thing. The sailors (described above) where now ready to "cash in their chips." But God had other plans for them--especially since the Apostle Paul was onboard the ship.
When we finally, by grace, give up all hope of being saved by our own efforts, works, the law, or self--then, for the first time, we are ac-
tually in a position to *be* saved. Christ will have no co-attendants to His redemptive work and glory. Let us never give up on Jesus; even though we must give up on ourselves everyday.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Most men are of a private, narrow spirit. They are not of the spirit of the Apostle Paul, nor of the psalmist, who preferred Jerusalem before his chief joy, (Ps. 137:6)." --Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon, "The Character of Paul an Example to Chris-
tians"]
