Paul the Apostle is one of my heros. He is tough, full of faith, and smart. Once, he survived a shipwreck and then was promptly bitten by a poisonous snake as he threw wood on a fire. No problem, he just shook off the snake into the fire and went about his business.
Acts 28: 3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6 The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
He clearly believed in God’s power to provide, protect, and to do the supernatural. When he faced seemingly insurmountable circumstances, he just shook them off. One might then expect Paul to ignore risks and to be immune to concerns regarding circumstances. But then there is this verse…
1 Corinthians 7: 26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.
In Corinth there was a pretty serious grain shortage and since grain is a feed for many types of livestock, the shortage would have affected the prices of many different types of food. Rather than telling them to charge forward, have faith, work hard, expect great things, Paul did a risk assessment and offered a cautionary note regarding taking on dependents given the looming crisis.
Why would they guy who shakes off live venomous snakes tell believers to take the present crisis into consideration before getting married ?
Paul was a realist. He believed that circumstances happen and that they have consequences that believers may experience painfully. He also believed that we should do the right thing, the natural thing, taking a prudent course of action to avoid crisis and human suffering. Many in the church today mistakenly assume that their refusal to acknowledge systemic risk is tantamount to faith. But American believers may be shaped more by culture and experience than they realize. We have lived in times of cheap oil, a strong currency, a civil society, and constantly growing food output. The problem is that our future will very likely resemble the experience of the Corinthians. We may soon find that Paul’s realism minded advice may be more useful than starry eyed optimism.
There is an old maxim that states, “We do the natural, God does the super.”
Many believe that God will provide, but most of us don’t abstain from working while expecting supernatural provision. Many believe God is a healer, but most of us don’t purposefully handle snakes, drink poison, or ignore our health and expect his healing. To do so would be to test God and to show contempt for our own responsibilities in life.
As we face crisis in a world whose debt is un-payable, whose currencies are collapsing, and whose civil society is based on rapidly eroding trust; we would do well to pay a bit more attention to our current crisis as we consider our plans for the future.
Eph 6:13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand…. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Tough times are coming. And it is quite possible that an honest risk assessment and taking prudent precautions may not be enough. It is then that we stand, knowing we have done all, and then we wait for and expect God to add the super to the natural.
