Sneaky Snakes

I don’t like snakes. Not any kind. Doesn’t matter if they are poisonous or not. To me a snake is a snake! And I certainly DO NOT want one in my house.

When our girls were just babies and my husband Pat was a Texas state trooper, I was home one night, with him on the interstate 20 miles away (and NO  cell phones). The girls were in bed. When I walked into the den, I saw a small worm-like varmint crawl under a chair. My next thought was, “Worms crawl differently than what I saw. That was a snake!”

Hysterical (and in my nightie), I climbed on my desk and called the dispatcher…because, well, it doesn’t matter how small they are if they are poisonous, right? And what if one of the girls had been crawling on the floor in that area?

Usually, if I called Pat while he was working the roads, he came home pretty quickly. But as I sat for 30 minutes on the desk, thinking he’d be home any minute, the phone rang. Instead of walking in the door, he had just made it to a place that had a phone and called me to see what was wrong. In tears, I said, “There’s a snake in the house!”.  So, he and his partner headed to our house to arrive another 20 minutes or so later.

When they arrived, I told Pat to grab my robe before letting his partner in the house. Once that was accomplished, his partner walked in and asked where I’d seen it. I pointed to Pat’s chair, which he lifted up, grabbed the snake (yes, the size a big worm) and took it outside. But hey, a snake is a snake!

My next house snake experience was at my parent’s home in the country not far from us. One day my mom found a small snake skin in her bread drawer. So gross, and if there was a baby snake, that means there could be a momma snake! After hunting throughout the house and finding nothing, what else could they do but…continue to live there. Then one day much later my mom was picking up a “belt” that had fallen on the floor of a closet only to discover, this was a big snake skin not a belt!  Had that baby snake grown up? Another hunt was on, also to no avail.

Sometime after that, my mom was getting into bed and on the window sill, behind the head of the bed, there it was…grown up and coiled on the ledge! Dad came to the rescue and killed it, although, I still do not think it was poisonous. But it was big and shouldn’t be in a house!

Today, I was on the deck, minding my own business, and in the grass below the deck (where I sometimes walk barefoot), I saw this…

OK, I know, look close, it is there. I thought at first it was a stick, but then realized, something about it just didn’t look like a stick. And then it moved! And y’all, it’s LONG (3-4 feet)! Again, I thought…yuck, and in my yard, grateful it wasn’t in my house.

Perhaps to justify my dislike of all things snake-y, I could refer to Genesis 3 and the assignment God gave that lying serpent. So let me make some spiritual connections here.

1. We DO have an enemy who was banished first from heaven, then as a consequence of his dishonest encounter with Eve, was told by God, “You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:14) We must live aware, yet not afraid of the devil and his work on earth. We know from the Truth we see in the book of Revelation, Jesus has already won victory over evil and death, and one day this enemy will meet his eternal death.
2. The enemy is sneaky and subtle, and often crawls slowly into our lives…so much so that we sometimes miss it. Like with Eve, he seeks to cause us to doubt the Truth of Scripture. H wants us to doubt the love and faithfulness of Jesus when life doesn’t appear to match up with our concept of what that should look like. I read this post on FaceBook today: “We are living in a time when Satan doesn’t even hide anymore, and the world still can’t see him.” Truth here.
3. At times, the enemy snake seems really small and inconsequential, so it’s not a problem, right? If a tiny snake is poisonous, it’s dangerous, no matter how small. So a little sin can creep into our lives sometimes without our recognizing it. An “only one time” sin, an “everyone does it”sin… is still sin! Jesus asked His followers in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?” He goes on to say in that passage that they are to hear His Words and act on them (Luke 46:47-49). Another time He said,“If you love me, you will keep my commands.” (John 14:15). He expects our obedience to His Word!
4. Not all snakes are poisonous. We must discern, when we disagree with a snake-y person, whether it’s truly an evil attack led by Satan. Remember, he does not know all, nor does he have all power. He’s only been unleashed for a period of time with a certain amount of power. But he is a defeated foe!e But not everyone who disagrees with you or acts “snae-y” is an enemy!

We must live in God’s Truth…study it, live it out…DAILY! We must also be aware that because the second coming of Jesus is closer every day, the devil is angrier and more desperate to accomplish as much evil as he can before he’s banished forever in his eternal end in hell.

We must live with awareness, not ignorance. Faith, not fear. Obedience, not justifying or ignoring sin. Daily repentance is something we will do until we see Him face to face when we will be like Him…finally!

1 John 3:2 give us this Truth: “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.” Finally!

Who else needs to know this? Will you tell them?

Banner photo by Arvid Høidahl on Unsplash