Ken's Daily Devotional

12-20-05

Acts 27-28:6
Focus Acts 28:4-6
And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

How often do you feel your going through trials in life that are overpowering you just to have someone come up to you and say "How do you do that. I see you every day and all the problems you have and yet you seem to listen to everyone else who has problems and still you are happy?" You may not hear those exact words, but often you may hear something like that or you may not. When you do, just think of what God has for you and what kind of a witness you are for Christ. Paul gave no thought for his life and he did what God told him to. This saved the lives of the men of the ship of which he was captive.

Lastly, he was bitten by some kind of poisonous creature. I'm sure this must have hurt, maybe not, but it sure amazed those barbarians to see that brother Paul did not die. We can give thanks to God who sustains us when we are needed to listen to people with problems that are added to our own. Don't think though that Satan won't come up out of the fire and try to bite you. If that happens, we know what to do, get down on our knees and pray.