Acts 28:3-6
3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4 So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” 5 But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
After being shipwrecked on Malta and receiving hospitality of warmth and food, Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake. The natives kept waiting for him to die from the bite, yet he had shaken the snake into the flames and nothing happened. They erroneously said he was a god, not realizing the power was from God above to keep him safe, not in or of his own power. Whatever we do, it is Christ working through us. When God keeps us from harm, He alone gets the glory; we have no right to mislead others by taking it for our own.
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