“Shake It Off”

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… ⁵ But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed.”

Acts 28:3,5

 

Paul went through quite a lot of hardships while spreading the gospel. He faced staunch opposition, was shipwrecked three times, and here in this passage we see he was even bitten by a poisonous snake. And we think we have it bad! But here we see Paul’s general motto when facing difficult situations: he “shook it off”.

We can learn a lot from this. As Christians, we learn that Jesus says He’ll never leave us or forsake us. He is always with us. If we look to Him at all times…even in the hard times- we can overcome any situation. No matter what we may be facing- whether dealing with sickness, hardship, adversity, relationship troubles, or mourning a loved one- with Christ as our guide, we can make it through it. No matter what “snakes” may come our way, we can follow Paul’s example and “shake it off”- and we, too, may come out unharmed.

Application

What do you need to shake off?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we give you our circumstances and ask for You to guide us through them. We ask for Your will to be done, and to make us better people through the trials we face. Show us how to give our lives to You, both in the good times and bad.
Amen.