Acts: Go & Be Chapters 19-28Sample

What is this passage saying?

Once everyone has made it safely to shore after the shipwreck, they find they are on the Island of Malta. The people are welcoming to them. Paul is gathering an armful of sticks to help build a fire and is bitten by a poisonous snake. The people there see Paul get bitten, and they instantly think he is a murderer and this is his fate. That he will die for what he has done. But Paul just shakes off the snake in the fire, and nothing happens. His hand does not swell or anything. The people who saw this were amazed! On the island, they meet the chief man, Publius, who was very hospitable. His father was very sick with a fever and dysentery. Paul visited with him and prayed over him, and Publius’s father was healed. Once this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases came and were also healed.

What is this passage teaching?

As you are reading the events leading up to this passage, some of you may be thinking, why is God causing Paul to go through everything that he is going through – all to get to Caesar? God always uses every event and circumstance we go through for his purposes. If the ship had never wrecked, they would have never met Publius, and Paul would have never been able to heal Publius’s father. And because of the healing that took place, everyone who had a disease on this island could also be healed in Jesus' name! God is always working things out for the good of those who love him. This passage teaches the believer to trust the Lord with every circumstance, even when it doesn’t always make sense.

How do I respond?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) You never know what the Lord is doing in your life and why there may be some delays in your circumstances. But God is working all things together for your good! (Romans 8:28)