Believing Themselves Masters of Their Plan

As Paul sailed to Rome, they stopped at “a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.” While there, “Paul admonished them, And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.” He was suggesting that they stay and winter over where they were at, but “because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter.” So they disregarded Paul’s advice and kept going. The next verse reads, “And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.” I was struck by the language of this as I read the verse in French: “Un léger vent du sud vint à souffler et, se croyant maîtres de leur plan, ils levèrent l’ancre et côtoyèrent de près l’île de Crète.” The phrase “se croyant maitres de leur plan” would translate back to English as “believing themselves masters of their plan,” a suggesting that they thought they were in complete control and had full power over their destiny. That is the case I think for all of us—in times of confidence we believe we are in control and can accomplish things according to our desires. We think that we are the masters of our fate, and then something out of our control happens and stops us. Here is what happened to this group of sailors: “But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind.” Soon their situation became desperate: “And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away” (Acts 27:8-20). One day they believed that they were masters of their plan, and the next they found that they had no control over anything and that they were at the complete mercy of the storm. They should have listened to a prophets’ voice who had warned them, but because they trusted more in the arm of flesh they were in serious trouble.

                The end of this story highlights, though, that God does sometimes give us second chances. This group clearly had done wrong in ignoring the words of Paul, but when they found that they were out of hope, he said this to them: “Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cæsar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me” (Acts 27:21-25). They were indeed able to get to land as they followed Paul’s subsequent counsel, and their lives were spared. This story gives me hope because it suggests that God is merciful and will give us second chances even when we mess up the first time. Even if we have failed to listen to His voice as we should have, all is not lost if we will start again to heed His servants. Joseph Smith learned that after Martin Harris lost the 116 pages. He was in total despair at the news and cried out, “All is lost!” He was devastated at his mistake. But even though the plates and translators were taken from him, he eventually received them again along with this message from the Lord: “But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work” (Doctrine and Covenants 3:10). All was not lost, and through humility and repentance, Joseph continued the work and still brought forth the Book of Mormon. When we similarly fail to heed the voice of the Lord and make mistakes, we can have hope through repentance that God is merciful and can still cause all that happens to work for our good.