Acts 27:18-26 The storm continues a long time

Acts 27:18-20 The storm continued; to lighten the ship they threw the cargo overboard. The day after that they threw the ship's tackle overboard. It is not clear to me why they did this. The tackle serves a purpose. Perhaps the ship was riding so low in the water that they feared being swamped and were willing to do anything to avoid that. But the storm continued, even though the ship was not swamped; the number of days is not stated here, but gradually everyone was losing hope.

          "The storms of life" is often used as a metaphor for trials and tribulations that we go through year in and year out. We do the things we know to do to try to avoid the shipwreck of life that we are certain is just ahead. But the storm continues. We lose hope because nothing we do seems to make any difference. This is not the same as the storm that struck the ship that Jonah was on, even metaphorically. In Jonah's case, he was running from God, and he knew full well that was impossible. (Jonah 1:10-12) Job was not at sea when his trials came, but he was also helpless before them; he gave evidence of losing hope. (Job 3:1-26)

Acts 27:21-26 Paul did not lose hope because he clung to the promise made by The Lord that he would testify in Rome. (Acts 23:11)  He was visited by an angel in this instance, who repeated the promise, and added that God would preserve the lives of all who were sailing on the ship. Perhaps we can infer that Paul was praying for this, that the lives of all who were with him in this storm would make it through. It may have been a bit of the human side showing up when he couldn't resist reminding them with an 'I told you so' comment. But God's grace can be seen in these circumstances. Paul's focus remained on his mission, that he would testify before Caesar. The captain of the ship lost his cargo, and would lose his ship. The price to be paid for ignoring the warnings of God's spokesperson. But they would all survive this test.  They would not run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, but on an island.