Bad Day?
Have you ever had one of those days you wish you could just get a do-over for? I mean, a day where everything seems to be going wrong?
In the book of Acts Chapter 28 in the Bible, the Apostle Paul had been arrested and was being taken to Rome. On the way, however, the ship encountered a terrible storm and was to be shipwrecked. When all the men aboard the ship made it to the island they were shipwrecked near, they were welcomed by those living there. The islanders had made a fire for them because it was raining, and Paul and the others were cold and wet.
Paul had gathered some wood to throw on the fire, and when he went to put it on, a viper came out of the woodpile and latched on to Paul’s hand. Paul simply shook off the snake into the fire and went about his business. The islanders began to think that Paul must have been a really bad man for this to happen, and they waited for him to either swell up or fall dead. They imagined Paul was getting justice even though it might have appeared he had escaped it. But remember, Paul simply shook off the snake into the fire. Paul wasn’t letting the day, the circumstances, the rain and the cold, or the opinion of those who were misguided get to him. Not even the snake that should have been the last straw couldn’t get to him.
I mean, having been arrested for no good reason, made to get on a ship that you warned both the guard and the captain about sailing in at that time, and then being caught in a bad storm for days until shipwrecked on an island and then being snake bit. I would call that a bad day. It appears Paul saw it as an opportunity.
I think because Paul was not overcome by what was happening to him, he was able to be available to the Holy Spirit for whatever He might wish to do to bring these islanders to Jesus in faith.
Acts 28:7 In that region there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days. 8 And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. 9 So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.
Paul’s walking in the fruit of the Spirit, even when in the natural, there seemed to be sufficient justification for him to get all negative and complaining, set him up for divine opportunities.
Here is the leading citizen’s father lying sick with fever and dysentery, which in those times could be a death sentence. However, Paul is not so caught up in himself that he cannot be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Paul is ready to be a blessing to someone else despite the horrible circumstances he has been forced to endure unjustly at the hands of others.
Paul went in and prayed and laid his hands on the man, and the man was healed! So obvious a manifestation of healing was this that the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. Paul seems to be moving among these people the way Jesus did among the Jews.
Bad days can become opportunities for those who are in tune with the Spirit and refuse to let themselves become victims of their circumstances to the point that they surrender their attitude to that of dejection rather than victory. Walking in the Spirit is for every situation we face, not just the ideal days that go well. Are you sure you’re having a bad day?
