“Euroclydon”
There is a great plan in the earth, to make Godly men out of little boys and Godly women out of little girls. In our society, today, we all seem to want to stay young. God says that gray hair is a sign of wisdom and it only comes with age. The reason being, it takes a long time and a lot of real life experiences to become wise. Some are easy and some are hard. They both have great value. We don’t seem to notice the easy ones as they happen, but the big ones we remember well, and are changed forever. It seems that the big experiences come on us all a sudden. They seem to always catch us off guard.
Have you noticed that the people who have the greatest responsibility and pressure acquire gray hair the quickest? I wonder what our present president is going to look like after his term in office is over. Yellow to gray, just wondering. But he will be a lot wiser.
Experiences that seem to be the hardest, produce the greatest wisdom. Examples in the Bible are real and serve as good instructions. We all know that Paul was a Christian, don’t we? OK, just checking. Some think that a Christian should never have any problems or difficulties. No gray hair, no wisdom.
Acts: 27, Paul was a prisoner. He was to be taken to Rome by ship. Verse 13 says the wind began to blow softly. Paul was not in control of this experience, he was not the captain of the ship. He did not make the decision to go. This experience was forced on him. He perceived inside that this voyage would end in disaster for the crew and the ship. They would not listen to his warning. Even though he knew the danger beforehand, God still made him go. There, are some things we are just going to go through, like it or not. Because He says so. In verse 14, it said that a great tempest head wind arose called “Euroclydon” (North Easterner). Headwind means we are stopped from going in the direction we want to go. After many days of wallowing around in the sea, the crew wanted to jump ship, or in our modern-day term, get the heck out of Dodge. Paul stood up and said “Unless these men stay on the ship, you cannot be saved”. Many men jump ship when things get tough and never gain the experience or gain the wisdom at the end. But that is not us, wisdom is our hearts desire. Even though Paul knew they would be shipwrecked, he didn’t know that they needed to wreck on a certain Island called Malta before he got to Rome. After the wreck, while putting wood on the fire to get warm, a deadly snake bit him on the hand. The natives saw this and immediately thought Paul was judged to die. He must be a murderer. Do we ever think that way? He just shook the snake off and continued getting warm. They waited for him to swell up and die. When he didn’t, they thought he was a god. They didn’t know that God was with him. After the natives fed them, there were many sick people among them and Paul laid hands on them and they were healed.
The Good News had been spread to Malta on the way to Rome. Had the ship not sailed, had the captain and the owners not sent them, had the men jumped ship, had they stopped before getting to Malta, had Paul died from the snake bite, Malta would have never seen Paul or met God.
If we live in America, we live where there is some of the worst weather in the world. The “Euroclydon” is a way of life here. The word “Levant” the participle of lever, “To Rise”, is another word for Euroclydon. Trusting God with our very lives, with all our strength, raises us to new levels in God’s wisdom. It gives us the tools to deal with future issues with ourselves and others. We live in a world of sick and dying people that have never seen a Paul or a You and yearn for someone to come.
One of our greatest experiences while on this earth is to gain Godly wisdom, don’t let anything stop you. We will be gaining wisdom until we take our last breath on this earth. Whatever you are going through, gain wisdom as you go. There is an ending to every experience. Don’t stop half way. No matter how strong the wind gets, trust God through to the end. He is God of today while you are going through it and He is God of tomorrow when you come out of it. It’s God’s will.
David McClary
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