When Things Are...Weird

Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happened to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. (Acts 28:3-6)

When things happen that seem “weird” we can be quick to default to non-godly assumptions based on what we’ve seen, forgetting that we are to live this life by faith; not by sight. God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts - they are higher than ours. With our limited minds, we are unable to fully understand, to see, to anticipate, or predict what God is doing and how He will move or is moving. So our interpretations of what we see can be severely off. We would do well to pray and consider how the Father may be moving in a particular situation – being open to hearing Him. And ultimately, we must trust and believe in Him - no one and nothing else.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. So don’t throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. (Hebrews 10:23&35)