In moments of despair, depression, and disillusionment, we’d like to take a cue from our brother Paul and shake it off. Literally, Paul shook the snake off him and didn’t suffer any effects from what must have been a lethal bite.
Friend, I’m gonna tell on myself and keep it real here: I’m horrible at shaking things off and selecting to consider the most effective. But I would like to emphasise that shaking off disillusionment is essential to getting back up when life knocks us down. And after we shake that trash off us, we’d like not suffer any sick effects from it either. Meaning, while you start spiraling into disillusionment, you may have to first stop repeating the lie that you simply’ve been abandoned by God and shake it off. But we have now to take things a step further and ensure the venom of catastrophizing isn’t lingering inside us.
Paul learned what we have now to learn, too: while you make it through the storm and all hell breaks loose on the shore— while you’ve been through all and it still keeps coming— we’ve got to make like Paul and shake! it! off!
Pound your chest straight away and say, “Get off me!”
Nah, you didn’t do it. You didn’t say it out loud. You said it in our head, and that doesn’t count. Say it out loud so you may hear yourself make the declaration. Say it again so you are feeling it in your soul. Say it a 3rd time so the devil and his demons start shaking!
The Bible gives us no record of Paul screaming, running around, or freaking out. Why? I feel it’s because he didn’t do any of that. Paul knew he wasn’t going to die on Malta. Paul didn’t make a scene because he knew Rome was waiting, and Rome was where Paul would proclaim the gospel of the risen Messiah before Caesar himself.
Well, friend, I’m with Paul. I’m not going to die on my Malta, because my Rome is waiting too. Paul told his crew in the midst of a storm, “This has to occur.” And I’m telling myself, “This has to occur” too.
If you’ve been on Malta attempting to determine why you’re there, I would like to point you back to the who. Who is in command of your life? Who loves you? Who gave you the vision or dream on your life? If you answered “God” to any of those questions, stand firm in the religion that has brought you this far. It’s time to shake off the disillusionment.
This motion isn’t only for you. It’s for everybody who’s watching you too! See, when Paul got bit by the snake, nobody got here around him to assist. Everyone stood there and watched to see what he would do or what would occur. Child of God, persons are watching you. People are waiting so that you can lose it, to walk away, or to twist up and die. But have a look at you! You are surviving and refusing to offer up. I’m standing and giving God some praise since you’re still here and you’re going to shake it off.
Pick yourself up and prepare because Rome is waiting.
Do we all know what to do in Malta? If we discover ourselves there, how should we live? Remember, dear friend, Paul didn’t need to go to Malta either. Visiting Malta was by no means in his plan. And yet . . .
You live back at home along with your parents and waiting tables while you thought you were on the fast track to a promising profession after earning your MBA.
You are going through painful IVF treatments after years of infertility while you thought it might be easy to get pregnant.
You are moving out of the house you may now not afford since you thought you’d have been promoted by now.
You are devastated since you thought your engagement would result in marriage, not a broken heart.
You’re on Malta, too.
Paul could’ve ended up bitten and bitter, but as an alternative he made his time on Malta matter.
Word spread concerning the man who had survived each a storm and a snakebite, and Paul became quite popular on the island. He was invited to remain at the home of Publius, Malta’s chief official.
Paul was a bedraggled, foreign inmate who, before long, was invited to sit back with probably the most outstanding family on all the island.
What if our adversity seems to be the one thing that opens doors to which we otherwise would never have had access? Said in a different way, what if our adversity brings us opportunity? I feel it might change our language. We would go from lamenting and asking why, why, why? to speaking, as an alternative, with authority and clarity. Paul needed to undergo the storm, he needed to survive a snakebite, because God was going to make use of him for something he never would have encountered otherwise. Sometimes opportunity is hidden behind adversity.
What storm are you surviving?
I’m here to inform you that you simply’re on Malta for a reason!
Paul wouldn’t have known what was in store for him on Malta, but what he did know was this: it needed to occur. In the identical way, every thing we have now passed through and every thing we’ll undergo has to occur. So until we make it to Rome, I would like us to make use of our snakebitten hands to bring some healing to those around us. We may not know the why, but we’re believing within the who. We can’t quit within the storm because there may be healing on the shore. It has to occur. It’s a part of the plan. And we consider the pain could have a purpose.
Taken from “Grit Don’t Quit” by Bianca Juarez Olthoff. Copyright 2023 by Bianca Juarez Olthoff. Used with permission from Thomas Nelson.
Photo Credit: Japheth Mast/Unsplash
