In the midst of the storm that threatened the ship and all on board it, Paul is visited by an angel of God. It was a night-time visit, one that came at the time of greatest alarm. Such happenings were part of the apostolic age but are not to be expected today. How favoured is the child of God. While others feared and trembled Paul was favoured by a heavenly visitor. Heaven is never far from the child of God. How little the world understands of this! It was not the angel's presence but the message he brought which was of peculiar comfort to Paul. That word became the basis of Paul's words of comfort to his fellow passengers, verse 24-25. I wish to note the little statement that Paul adds on to his description of the angel in verse 23 - "whose I am, and whom I serve." Paul belonged to and served the Lord. Those are two marks that are found in the true Christian. We all belong to and serve someone! The Saviour said of the Scribes and Pharisee, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do," John 8:44. We are not our own, despite the thinking of men to the contrary -- "Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?" Psa 12:4.