Acts 28:3-6 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.… How easy it is to be sure that other people deserve punishment, and are getting it. If we are in trouble, we wonder why God afflicts us. At all events, we are not to blame for our misfortunes. If the trouble is at our next-door neighbour's, it is plain enough where the fault lies. If their house is robbed, there is "no doubt" that they were very careless in leaving their doors and windows unfastened. If their children are disobedient or graceless, there is "no doubt" that the parents sadly neglected them. If those neighbours lose their property, there is "no doubt" that they are always extravagant or shiftless. With what guileless simplicity the disciples came to Jesus, asking about the blind man, "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" After all, those Maltese barbarians were not so different from the rest of us. "It is good enough for him," or, "It is what we might have expected," is the judgment we too often pass upon one whom, without good reason, we esteem "smitten of God, and afflicted." "Who art thou that judgest another?" (H. Trumbull, D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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