Shake Them Snakes

Today, as I was reading my morning devotion, a word just burned on my heart deeply about conquering sin and trials/temptations.

Taken from BibleGateway.com

Acts 28 (New Living Translation)
Paul on the Island of Malta

¹ Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. ² The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.

³ As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. ⁴ The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. ⁶ The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

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Isn't it fascinating how the passage made it sound so simple? Paul was building a fire, a viper (in other translations) came up and wrapped around him, and Paul shook him off into the fire like a bad habit. It took 3 plain verses to describe what happened, but I can imagine that it would be the defining moment for many people's lives today:

Imagine going camping with some of your best buddies, both saved and non-saved. You drive 4 hours up to Lake Tahoe and finally unpack the truck after the grueling trip with multiple stops for bathroom and food. You tell your friends to start pitching the tent while you grab some wood for the dinner fire. Zack (just made the name up) comes with you. Lo and behold, there's no wood around so you travel deep with your hatchet to get some. You two get lost. An hour goes by and you finally return with some kindling and a good night's supply of logs/branches. Zack gathers the rest of the guys who were waiting on the firewood and tell them to circle around for the glorious fire moment. As you light the match (or lighter, if you're not as hardcore), you feel something smooth and uneasy on your leg. Its squirmy. A worm? You look down and you see the end of its tail crawl up behind your back so you can't see. Its a rattlesnake. Nope, its a viper. It opens your mouth to attack you. Your entire biology class from 7th grade is flashing before your eyes and you wish you kept yourself awake to learn how to combat snakes. What do you do?

This is somewhat how I imagined the situation was for Paul (this is also how I read the Bible). Paul simply SHOOK off the snake! He didn't panic, he didn't worry, and he didn't even fear the snake. He merely took the snake and tossed it into the fire! That is extreme!

And that's one of the biggest problems in the church today. We make a big deal out of everything, don't we? Grades drop, friendships are broken, girls/boys are chasing us, and families fall apart--Yes, those things are indeed tempting and extremely painful to go through. Yet, why are we so easily discouraged or impressed by the works of the devil? One or two things go wrong in our lives and we begin to justify backsliding or sinking away from our Christian walk. This is crucial, especially because people will look and start analyzing you, just like the islanders did. They might say you deserve it, they might pity or sympathize with you, or they may simply stare and watch. They can't help you so why bother with what others say?

Yes, the snake/trial/temptation is poisonous; yes, the hurt will be there once the event or action has occurred; yes, it's easy to talk about and hard to live out; but the poison will only spread and affect you if you allow yourself to be bitten. A mosquito cannot sting you if you do not give it a chance to land on you.

Next time the snakes come onto you, show no intimidation.

Shake them snakes off and into the fire.