And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.  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.  (Acts 28: 3-6)

What a cruel twist of fate this must have seemed.  A man who surely was blessed to have survived the shipwreck finds himself moments later being bitten by a poisonous snake.  For a barbarian, the reason is obvious.  He did something to deserve this.  He must be a murderer.  Wrong!  Paul survives the snakebite with no ill effects.  Another conclusion is drawn.  He must be a God.  Wrong again!  Isn’t it funny how the minds of barbarians worked?

I guess that we’d like to think of ourselves as being much more enlightened now.  However, even today, we are prone to ascribe everything that we perceive as being bad or inconvenient to the Devil.  Just as easily the things that we see as good or beneficial are ascribed to the intervention of God.  This is an area in which we must be careful.  There is a fine line between giving glory to God, and claiming to know exactly what He is doing, or for what purpose.

There was a time when a runaway slave found his way to Paul in Rome.  He happened to be the property of one of the brethren at Collosae.  Paul preached the gospel to this slave.  The slave obeyed the gospel.  Paul sent the slave back to the brother with a letter explaining that he was receiving back more than a slave, but a brother in Christ.  Paul speculated as to the intervention of God in this process and makes this statement; “Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good-- no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.”  (Philemon 15-16 NIV)  Bear in mind that Onesimus had traveled 1000 miles as the crow flies from Collosae to Rome.  He then coincidentally runs into the Apostle Paul, who is also by coincidence personally acquainted with Philemon.  And all Paul can say is perhaps this was providence.  Does this mean that Paul didn’t thank God for the salvation of this soul?  Of course he thanked God.  He was simply careful not to claim that God had caused something that he might not have caused.

In one sense, God either causes something to happen, or allows it to happen, whether good or bad.  This is the nature of His almighty power.  To speculate, however, on whether or not He has intervened, whether or not He had a reason or what His reason is, simply falls beyond our understanding.  To make claims in these areas is to speak for God where He has not spoken.  What shall we say then, that we shouldn’t thank God when good happens?  Absolutely not, we should give thanks in all things.  (Eph 5: 20)  This includes giving thanks when bad things happen.  This doesn’t mean that I should thank Him for the bad that has happened.  But even when bad happens, God hasn’t changed.  And my relationship to Him hasn’t changed simply because something bad has happened.  If God hasn’t changed, and our relationship hasn’t changed, we have reason to be thankful.

I guess in a nutshell what I’m trying to say is that we cause ourselves a lot of grief by focusing on what has happened, why it has happened, and if God is intervening.  Things would be much better if we would focus as strongly on maintaining, nurturing and cultivating our relationship with our Father through prayer, study, and obedience.  After all, it’s our relationship to God that separates us from the barbarians.