Back to top

Devotional: A Sailor's Story

Eli Tenorio
November 29, 2015
Brazil
During a visit to a member of our church in Itaquera, Sao Paulo, I heard the following experience...

Isaiah 43:2 “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

 

During a visit to a member of our church in Itaquera, Sao Paulo, I heard the following experience:

 

When I was still quite young, I heard about Sabbathkeeping, and was convinced that, according to the Bible, Saturday was the day that should be kept. Yet I always put off my decision to begin observing the Sabbath.

 

I was a sailor at that time, and during one of my trips out at sea, our ship was attacked by a storm. We were thrashed about from side to side. On one particularly strong impact with the waves, I was lunged overboard.

 

Everyone was preoccupied with futile attempts at calming the ship, and no one noticed what had just occurred. The distance between the ship and I began to increase; the ship was leaving!

 

I fought to stay above the agitated waters and ceaseless waves. Clinging to a piece of driftwood, I realized that only through one of God’s miracles would I be saved. There was no other way.

 

At that moment, knowing that it was humanly impossible for me to get out of that situation alive, I clung to the only hope left for me—prayer. I prayed to God and said, "Lord, I know I should have started keeping the Sabbath a long time ago, but I didn’t. Yet, if You through some miracle free me from death, I promise that from now on I shall keep your Sabbath."

 

I put my circumstance in His hands, and waited.

 

The likelihood of another ship passing that way in time to save me was relatively impossible. But God in His infinite goodness provided that, in a few hours, another ship passed by that same route.

 

 I was spotted by the sailors, rescued, and taken aboard safe and sound.       

   

Since then, by God’s grace, I have tried to faithfully keep the promise I made to my Lord in the day of my affliction.

 

God still promises to work miracles and to provide for those who decide to sanctify the day He chose. In Exodus 23:20 He promises to “send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way.” When God commands, He will open the way.

 

“When the Lord speaks, will men act as did Adam and Eve, and follow their example of disobedience? Which voice shall we heed, the voice of God, or the suggestions of the great destroyer? When God commands, it is for our present and eternal good to obey.”

-RH November 5, 1895