You might say it had been a “bad hair” fortnight. Two weeks on the open sea with 274 Roman sailors, their ship driven helplessly by a Northeaster, neither sun nor stars appearing for many days. Everyone gave up hope except for Paul. God sent an angel to remind him that he would stand before Caesar, and that not one life would be lost. Paul’s faith was contagious, and sure enough the ship ran aground on the island of Malta, and every single man made it to shore.
As Paul pitched in to build a bonfire against the cold winter rain, a poisonous viper latched onto his hand. The islanders watched for him to die, but our apostle just shook it off and kept on working. Next thing we know, Paul was placing that same hand on the governor’s father and healing him.
There is a lesson here for us. We all have “bad hair” days that can drive us to distraction. We all go through storms, sometimes several in one week’s time. Shouldn’t God have given Paul a break for helping with the fire? Hadn’t he been through enough? But it was the storm, the shipwreck, and the snakebite that led to the healing.
In Chapter 1 of the book of Romans, Paul prayed for a “prosperous journey” to Rome. Was his journey prosperous? He was not booked in a stateroom on a luxury liner. There was no posh hotel room waiting for him on the island. But I’m learning to love this definition of prosperity – having everything you need to do the Will of God. So the next time the snake bites, and he will, let’s just shake him off and see what God does next.
