Snake Bit!

Thursday November 11, 2010

Today's Passage: Acts 28:1-6
Memory Verse: 2 Timothy 2:3

Amidst the blessing and favor we enjoy as people of God, misfortune always seems to find its way into our lives.  Oftentimes, it'll even come in bunches.  My mother used to say "if it ain't one thing it's another."  And when I played baseball, our coach would describe a loss as being "snake bit."

What do we do when we're snake bit?  How does a christian respond to loss?  Naturally, we all respond to different things different ways.  Some of us can shake things off with ease, while others need time to process before responding.  Either way, how we respond will determine our success, or our failure.  In Acts chapter 28, The Bible reveals what Paul did.  It says "Once everyone was accounted for and we realized we had all made it, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. The natives went out of their way to be friendly to us. The day was rainy and cold and we were already soaked to the bone, but they built a huge bonfire and gathered us around it. Paul pitched in and helped. He had gathered up a bundle of sticks, but when he put it on the fire, a venomous snake, roused from its torpor by the heat, struck his hand and held on. Seeing the snake hanging from Paul's hand like that, the natives jumped to the conclusion that he was a murderer getting his just deserts. Paul shook the snake off into the fire, none the worse for wear. They kept expecting him to drop dead, but when it was obvious he wasn't going to, they jumped to the conclusion that he was a god!"  Most of us (like me) couldn't imagine enduring such a thing.  Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl.  But this account is true even about christian life.  The fact is, sometimes unexpected snake bites happen.  And when they do, our first inclination is usually to curl up in a ball and die.  We stop believing, stop dreaming, stop hoping, and stop progressing.  The reason we do that is because it's what people around us expect us to do.  I have a praise choir member who tragically lost her husband in a violent way several years ago (snake bit).  Everyone (including me to some degree) expected her to fall apart in some fashion.  I was already prepared to accept her resignation from the choir (I even feared she'd leave us entirely).  But, like Paul, she shook it off.  Yes, it hurt deeply; she had her moments.  But she became even more determined in her faith.  She started seeking God even more.  And today, Yas and I consider her to be one of our personal heroes.

So let's learn to endure hardship like a good soldier.  Paul shook off the thing that was set up to destroy him.  Also, he did it with such faith and confidence, the people thought he was a god.  I can only hope my faith will one day be demonstrated so effectively that it resembles the power of the Father.  Anyway, what will you do when the devil  tries to steal, kill, and destroy you?  Will you roll over and die, or will you shake it off, knowing your life is in God's hands?  So c'mon, let's let these things go.  I know it hurts.  But hanging on to it is keeping you stagnant.  It's holding you back.  How silly would it have looked if Paul had walked around with that snake still hanging on his hand?  Very silly.  Well, it looks the same way in the spirit when we allow ourselves to walk around hanging on to pain and failure.  SHAKE IT OFF!

Prayer:  Father I trust You to guide me into this next stage of my life.  I have to release these things that weigh me down.  I know in order to offer forgiveness though, I have to first be forgiven.  So forgive me for the wrong I've done.  Now I have the grace to shake off the "snake bite".  Therefore, I will live and not die.  I will be above and not beneath.  Because You are my Hope and my Joy, and I give You praise in Jesus' name. Amen