Months ago my wife and I went to the movies on a little mini-date. Afterwards, we decided to take the exit door rather than the entrance we came in as it was closer to our vehicle. You know, the door no one ever uses that is located next to the screen in some dark corner of the theater. Being a southern gentleman, as we approached the door, I motioned for my wife to go ahead of me as I opened the door. It was a matinee so the sun was a shocking change from the darkness of the theater. I bowed my head and squinted my eyes and pressed forward. After taking two steps outside I saw something move from the corner of my eye. As my eyes were still adjusting I noticed it was one of the things I’m most fearful of. It was a snake. In my mind he/she was the size of a large anaconda. Needless to say, I was dancing around that area like someone was shooting bullets at my feet. Hearing the commotion, my wife turned around and started laughing and asking me what I was doing. I pointed to the snake as I continued to dance and she just laughed harder. She’s a bit of a country girl so she’s not very afraid of a snake. Not to mention the baby snake was really only as big around and as long as a kindergartener’s oversized pencil. My fear of snakes made that slithery menace seem bigger than it was. My fear paired with inexperience with reptiles were the perfect disaster to cause me to fear something 100x’s smaller than I was.
Have you ever been there? You come in contact with something that, at the moment, seems like a steep mountain that can’t be crossed. Only later do you realize it was really just an ant hill. In Acts 21 we find a group trying to convince Paul not to go to Jerusalem as they fear he will be captured. In verse 13 he responds, “…I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” He sounds like a man who isn’t worried about the future but is more concentrated on the task of spreading the message of Christ. A few chapters later in Acts 27, Paul has been captured and is on his way to stand trial. The ship he is on is caught encounters a great storm and the ship is lost. He and the other prisoners find themselves on the island of Malta (we’re now in chapter 28). In an attempt to warm themselves they and the islanders begin building a fire. As he’s adding wood to the fire a serpent is driven out of the brush by the heat and it attaches itself to his hand. Folks, I would have passed out. Plain and simple. This white boy doesn’t do snakes! Paul did something unexpected. He just shook it off back into the fire and went on about his business. For quite a few chapters prior to this one Paul has been hit over and over and over again by things happening around him and to him. After reading all of that I was ready to fly the white flag of surrender for him. Rather than panic in the moment of attack he made the choice to just shake it off.
What choice will you make in the moment of your attack? You can run around screaming and acting foolish (like I did at the movie theater) or you can simply….shake it off and keep pressing forward. Was he scared to die? No! He said so in Acts 21. When you remind yourself of what you’ve been through you’ll realize that little snake in your life is nothing to be afraid of. Anxiety? Shake it off! Fear? Shake it off! Depressed? Shake it off! Worry? Shake it off! Shake it off! SHAKE IT OFF!!
Closing remarks and encouragement: God is not afraid of your mountain…and you shouldn’t be either. Do you have something that has attached itself to you? Shake it off! It doesn’t matter what it is. Shake it off! If got brought you through that, he will SURELY bring you through this! Be encouraged, my friends. Weeping may endure for a night…but joy is coming!