Acts 27:21

Acts 27:21 says, But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.  After they had given up hope, Paul stood in the midst of them and said, "Sirs, ye should have hearkened to me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss."   I don't believe Paul was playing “I told you so.”  He was simply stating the obvious.  If we warn people about a dangerous situation that God has made us aware of, and they ignore us and suffer from their decision, we must never gloat about it.  This is especially true when it comes to salvation.  If we witness to a person, and they ignore us, and die in their sins, we can never feel that they got what they deserved. Verse twenty-two adds, 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.  Paul offered them some hope They had ignored Paul when he warned them not to sail, now days into the tempest, he asks them to be of good cheer.  Would we listen, under the circumstances?  Lost people today are in the middle of a spiritual tempest, and no matter how many times they have refused to listen, we must still continue to witness. All is not lost as long as we have breath, unless we have finally left the door to salvation closed for good.  We bring a message of hope, and they need to be of good cheer.  Once they listen to the message and accept the salvation of Christ through faith, then their lives will never be lost.  The storm did not immediately stop.  They had to take Paul at his word by faith.  When we accept Christ as our Savior, the tempest may not stop, but we know that our life is eternally safe.