I was reading Acts the other day and read a story that I have read a hundred times before, but this time it really struck me. It is in Acts 28. Paul, after surviving a shipwreck finally gets to the island of Malta. He builds a fire and as he gathered brushwood a snake, who was driven out by the heat, bit him. Actually, my version states “it fastened itself to his hand”. But then (read this carefully!) Paul simply shook the snake off of his hand! The islanders who were watching started talking amongst themselves saying that surely this man must be a murderer because he escaped the sea, but now justice was not letting him live. In their thoughts, fate had jumped in.
Now there’s a couple of things here we need to examine. First, in the Bible the serpent usually represents evil or Satan; keep that in your mind. I can just see it now, Paul was exhausted from a storm in the sea and being shipwrecked and is thinking to himself “ahhh, I am finally gonna get warm and get my belly full” and then a snake bites him! Paul was like “are you kidding me?!?!? I don’t think so! God didn’t bring me this far to let me get bit by a snake and die!” So, he simply shook it off! This is how we need to be with satan. He has no power if you are a born again child of God. He has already been defeated! Shake him off. Look at him like Paul did when he looked at the snake and say “uh….no I don’t think so! Get off of me!”
Secondly, we need to look at the islanders. They immediately looked at what was happening to Paul and assumed he was being punished for something. Remember Job? His friends did the same with him. People in your life will do the same with you. They will look at you when you are going through troubles and wonder why. Then they will wonder how you are going to react. How are you going to face troubles thrown at you? How are you going to react to the snake when he comes?
As the islanders see that Paul is not going to die, they began to look at him as a God. People will watch us. When they see that you are coming out of a storm, that you shook off the enemy, that you kept a good attitude while being attacked, they will look to you. This is your chance to show them that no, I am not a God…..but I can show you THE God.
So, my question to you is this; how will you react when the snake comes your way? Will you just shake him off and keep going? Will you weather the storms in your life hidden in the shelter of the most high God (Psalm 91) and when people ask….will you point them to the true, living God?
So today…..let me encourage you to go ahead……do a little shaking.
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