Acts 28:6 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.
God Knows You
Sometimes our lives are kind of like the weather; they can change on a dime. At this moment I am in Flagstaff, Arizona where this morning it was very sunshiny, then the next moment it was snowing, and then a few moments later it was sunshiny again. That was all fun, but it seemed rather unpredictable. Many times the way people respond to us is very much like the clouds that come and go overhead; it is unpredictable, up and down. No one will make steady progress in life if they are yanked around by the estimation of other people like the winds that blow one way or the other on any given day.
The Apostle Paul was a man who had been blown back and forth by tempestuous winds. When his ship was wrecked on Melita, the people there showed Paul and the others much kindness in the cold, rainy weather. When Paul laid sticks on the fire they had made to warm themselves, a snake came out of the heat and fastened on his hand.
Verse 4 says, “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.” Talk about adding insult to injury! It is one thing to be shipwrecked and another for people to tell you it’s your own fault you were shipwrecked. Sometimes our shipwrecks may be our own fault, but that was certainly not the case with Paul. Paul could have been angry or offended, but he wasn’t. Paul shook the snake into the fire and felt no harm. God watched over him and protected him.
Then these people who had just said that he was doubtless a murderer guilty of death were shocked that he didn’t fall down dead. Verse 6 says that when they “saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.”
Now any person who can be easily puffed up by the estimation of others can be easily knocked down by the estimation of the same people. Unless you want other people to be your god, you need to make sure you focus is on the God Who knows you, not a god who worships or condemns you. People can be fickle, but a life of purpose cannot be motivated by either cynicism on the one hand or adoring fans on the other. We need to trust God and focus on what He wants and where He leads.
Whatever people may say about you, remember that God knows the truth and that is what matters. No one absorbed by the criticism or praise of others will arrive at God’s intended destination for their life. Don’t be absorbed by the fickle estimation others have of you. Serve others and remember that God knows you.