Don’t you love the expression on Atlee Griffin’s face in the featured photo? Her face shows how most of us feel about encounters with snakes. Fear grips us, and we are immobilized, or we are running and screaming. Few of us experience no reaction when we confront a snake.
In Acts 28: 1-10, we learn how Paul the Apostle encounters a venomous snake and chooses to react simply by shaking it off his hand. He has just reached land after drifting at sea and needs to warm himself with a bonfire on the beach. I want to focus on verse 3 – 6 of this Scripture.
“Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper (poisonous snake), driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.” NIV (emphasis mine)
Have you read these verses and wondered how you would react in a situation like this? I have, and I can honestly say that I would immediately start screaming and my entire Limbic System(the control center of the brain for emotions) would go entirely “limp”! Brother Paul does not have this major melt-down, and all the people standing around don’t rush to his aid or even drop to their knees in prayer. Luke, the Physician, didn’t run-in with a knife to open up the area and suck out the poison. (Remember the “old Western movies” – that never made sense to me)
The people, 246 from the shipwreck and all the islanders that had gathered, were thinking like many people today: “bad things happen to bad people.” They were sure he would be a “two-stepper” – take two steps and die. When that was not what God allowed, they reversed their whole mindset and called him a god. Paul reacted simply by shaking it off back into the fire that he was working to build for the benefit of the entire gathering of people. Notice how the people are engaging in an exercise that many participate in today. This exercise is known as “jumping to conclusions.” First, he is a murderer, then a god. Paul was a man driven to fulfill his Godly purpose in this life. He is preaching the Gospel to Rome.
What a story! Paul has been tossed off a ship during a hurricane, shipwrecked floating on boards for days and now bitten by a venomous snake. I believe we could all agree that Paul was being dealt with unjustly -or so it looks that way in our conclusion. Paul had a bad thing jump out and latch onto him that seemingly he did not deserve.
Sometimes I feel like I hardly have shaken off one snake when another jumps out of the fire and latches on fiercely. I don’t look for trials and problems, but they seem to find me as I live out my life on this Earth. I do not believe the Lord is allowing these snakes for no reason. I believe He is using them to grow me in His wisdom and grace one snake after another. I believe He is using these testing times to conform me to the image of Jesus Christ. He is more concerned about who I am in Him than whether I am comfortable with my place in life.
God was using Paul’s experience to set him apart from all the others who had found refuge on this island. If you read all of this Scripture, you will see that he goes on to heal a very prominent person of the island. He stays here for three months before sailing on to Rome. Luke does not give us much detail about how they further ministered to these people, but when they left, the people gave them everything they would need for their journey.
I believe this story is there to help us understand that we have to be “set apart” from others so that our ministry to people will bring glory to God. I don’t want others to see me as a person that God has dealt with unjust circumstances. I have experienced many events in life that people can’t understand. The sudden taking of Richard and Ryann to heaven when they were so young and the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis are the most evident examples. Sometimes sanctification only comes from suffering, and I thank God for the refining fires that have helped me become a person of a deeper understanding of the grace and peace given by our Lord Jesus.
My prayer:
My most gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me so deeply that you actively mold and shape me into Your image. Thank you for all the “poisonous snakes” I have been able to shake because of Your guidance. I pray that I allow You to control my reactions, words, and attitude. Thank You, Jesus, that You continually grow me, and my story is always in the process of being refined by Your loving Hand. AMEN
Let me encourage you to keep praising the Lord, no matter what snakes latch onto you. Keep seeking Him and trusting Him. He knows what is going on in your life and He is all over it! The Lord Jesus wants to use you amid hardship and suffering. There will be a day when the trials of life will be over. There will be no more poisonous snakes jumping out of the fire and latching onto your life. ALL WILL be PEACE FOREVERMORE!
I love you,
Rebekah Marsh
Lean into Jesus Ministries
#rebekahmarshblogs
