Watch for Snakes

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A copperhead snake bit our three-year-old granddaughter, Chloe, last Friday. She was busy playing with her kittens when it struck her on the foot. The viper hid underneath a bush and painfully interrupted everyone’s life.

She is home now. She spent three days in Texas Children’s Hospital, treated with ten units of anti-venom. Her body responded positively to the medicine, and the Lord showed great mercy. Her mother described her this morning as running around as if nothing had happened. We are very grateful to the Lord Jesus for His healing touch!

The Bible describes the devil as a snake. He deceptively tempted the first woman to eat of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. She fell for his lies and found herself fallen from God. Her husband joined her in the sin, and both were banned from paradise.

The Bible compares evil people to snakes. The psalmist says, “The wicked…go astray… speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent” (58:3-4, NKJ). Deception and lies are part of their nature. God’s people must pray for discernment, especially through this election cycle, to know the truth from lies. These lies are like venom that can kill and destroy.

The Bible says that alcohol is like a snake. The wisdom writer said, “Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is, how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down. For in the end, it bites like a poisonous snake” (Proverbs 23:31-32, NLT). Alcohol deceives us into believing it is harmless. It creeps into our lives with the promise of comfort and then bites like a snake. The number of broken lives and families from this viper is staggering.

Interestingly, the Lord once used snakes as a judgment on His people. The Bible says, “So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died” (Numbers 21:6, NLT). The cure for this plague was a serpent fashioned from bronze that was placed upon a pole and lifted up above the people. Everyone who looked at this serpent was healed.

Jesus explained the story in John 3. Those bitten by deadly serpents needed to look to God for healing. The bronze serpent was a picture of the coming Messiah who would be lifted up on a cross to heal the serpent’s bite that brought sin and death. Jesus explained, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Vss. 14-15, NKJ).

Jesus has, indeed, crushed the serpent’s head! He has restored us to paradise. We find our victory over sin in His sacrifice. We have been given power over the enemy. Paul celebrated in Romans 16:20, “And the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord be with you. Amen.”