Snake-Bitten

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil...Isiah 5:20

Watching the news in 2016 is exhausting.  There's the $600 gun with the 6 figure selling price because it was used to murder a black teenager.  There's those that advocate grown men sharing bathroom space with women and girls.  There are the missing planes, the terrorist attacks, the unclean drinking water, the crooked politicians, the drug related murders, the burgled retirement plans, the widening gap between rich an poor, and perhaps the worst presidential election ever.  Stick around for the commercials and you may catch an advertisement for a TV show where the devil is a handsome protagonist helping the LAPD solve crimes.

It's poison.  It's poison for our minds.  It's poison for our souls.  How do we spread a message of life in a world that has figured out how to profit from it's own destruction?  This week God led me to Psalm 37...twice.  After reading it in full, He led me to Acts 26-28.  I read the chapters in Acts still meditating on Psalms 37.  I began to see the passage in Acts as "middle ground" between the events of today and David's words in Acts.  Paul's adventures in Acts 26-28 are parabolic of the current day as well as illustrative of David's Psalm regarding the calamity of the wicked.

The Setting

Paul finds himself shipwrecked on the island of Malta.  Paul is on this island because he was arrested for preaching the gospel.  Paul decided to appeal to Caesar and was being transported to Rome when a storm leaves him shipwrecked.  Paul would seem to have been on a collision course with Malta as there was a chain of events that resulted in his shipwreck.  In Acts 26:32 Agrippa in his judgement of Paul says, "This man may have been set free if he did not appeal to Caesar."  In Acts 27:7-8 the weather forces the ship to detour and in verses 9-10 Paul advises against proceeding with the voyage.  Despite ignoring Paul's advice, the ship sets sail and soon finds itself in the midst of a storm.  The angel of the Lord comes to Paul while he sails and tells him that despite the losses the ship has and will endure, no lives will be lost.  After 14 days at sea with little food the 276 men on board found themselves on Malta's shore.

Much like Paul who offered advice to the ship's captain, we find ourselves in situations where those who lead us take us in a direction we would prefer not to go.  Despite outlets to have your voice heard, there are sometimes where your preference is not the chosen route.  It may be because your voice is in the minority.  There are other times when your opinion may be part of the majority, but you lose to a very vocal minority.  In some instances our leaders make decisions with no regard to our preference.  Like Paul, sometimes we find ourselves along for the ride; traveling down a road we would have rather avoided.

Psalms 37:23 tells us that the steps of the righteous man are ordered by the Lord.  When Paul's warnings against sailing out were ignored Paul did not panic or resort to protests that would dishonor Christ.  It is hard to react with a clear head when our path we travel is not the path we choose.  While protest may be appropriate, protesting in a manner that shames the name of Christ is never appropriate.  Our objections should be presented in a way that does not hinder us from witnessing to a sinner or restoring a brother.

The Snake

Snakes do not have good reputations in the bible.  They most often represent loathsome creatures who are crafty and without morals.  Acts 28:3 does not simply call it a snake, but a viper; the connotation adding that the snake is also poisonous and deadly.  

I compare the viper in Acts 28 with the evildoers in Psalm 37.  Snakes themselves are amoral, but represent the immoral; the evil doers and workers of iniquity (Psalms 37:1).  Psalms 37:12 tells us that the evil plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them.  This is similar to a viper who is an ambush predator.  Vipers are typically not large enough to devour humans, but they will ambush and bite humans.  Psalms 37:32 reiterates the relationship between the righteous and the wicked stating that the wicked watch the righteous and seek to slay them.  

In our lives there are those who watch us to study us.  They don't study to learn from us or to know us, but they study to plot, to slay and they bear their fangs at us at just the right time.  Psalms 37 tells us that these people are out there but it repeatedly tells us not to fret.  These people are not to arouse fear or anxiety in us.  We are not to lower our character in response to the actions of those with evil plots.  In addition to having feelings of anger, fear, and anxiety, the word fret also means to wear away or consume.  We are not to let the wicked wear us down with their plots.  We are not to fret.  Psalms 37:8 actually tells us that fretting ONLY causes harm.  The bible tells us instead to delight in the Lord; to focus on him.

Understand that people who live in the dark are drawn to our light.  Remember in Mark 5 that the demon possessed man RAN to Jesus when he was afar off.  Some people are attracted to our light because they desire it for themselves.  Understand too that for some our light is a source of shame; a reminder of convictions that they try to silence.  Living in the light attracts darkness.

Living for Christ will mean that some people will plot to destroy us.  That is not an excuse to stop living for Christ and start focusing on the snakes looking to ambush us.  It is not an excuse to become snakes ourselves.  If a venomous snake bites a human, it does not help the human to in turn bite the snake.  We are to trust in Lord, do good, and feed on God's faithfulness.

The Bite

Psalms 37 tells us not to fret, but it never tells us that evil doers will not harm us.  As Christians we are not immune to schemes of the wicked.  Our lives will have pain, betrayal, hurt and embarrassment; often in a public way.  Sometimes Christians are disillusioned when it comes to suffering; believing that it is either punishment of the wicked or the curse of the discontent.  Hebrews 2:10 tells us that God saw fit to make the author of our salvation perfect through suffering.  God allows us to suffer, but our suffering is not in vain.  He uses our suffering to display His power.  People will crowd around to watch a person suffer.  Every public suffering is an opportunity to publicly glorify God.

God did not stop the snake from biting Paul.  The bible says that the snake bit Paul and fastened himself to his hand.  In some instances poisonous snakes will strike without releasing venom.  When a viper latches on however, it is to pump venom into the blood stream of its victim.  There are two types of venom.  One works to immobilize the victim.  The second type is a digestive fluid that devours it's victim.

The bible does not tell us why the venom had no effect on Paul.  Even though God allowed the snake to bite Paul, He may have blocked the venom.  God may have healed Paul after being bitten.  It's possible that God made Paul immune to snake venom like squirrels, mongoose, badgers and certain birds.  Regardless of the reason, we see that the snake's intended purpose in biting Paul was not fulfilled and ultimately the snake perished in the fire.

The schemes of the wicked cannot catch God off guard.  The venom of the wicked is not stronger than the power of God.  This is the reason that we have for not fretting.  It is God who will make us immune to their poisons.  It is God who will keep us from being devoured on the inside.  The wicked plot to sink their teeth in us and inject doubt, fear, bitterness, rage, and other things to make us go astray.  God has the power to keep us in tact through each of these attacks.  This is why we don't need to fret.

The Witnesses

When Paul was bitten by the viper there were people on hand who watched him.  They watched expecting his demise.  When he did not die from the venom of a viper they thought him a god.  It is for calling these people that sometimes God allows us to suffer publicly.  It was not Paul who was a god, but God who kept him.  By not fretting and staying true to God through venomous encounters we are bearing witness to the power of God to these people.