With their camo-like skin which blends in perfectly to their surroundings (it is much the same color and pattern that soldiers wear on their uniforms when they go into battle — brown background with oval spots of lighter shades of brown) and their ability to remain perfectly still and then strike lightning fast, pythons make excellent ambush predators.
Pythons are non-venomous snakes, which means they don’t inject poison into their prey. They latch on to their prey by biting them with their four rows of curved, pointed teeth. Their teeth are curved to make it harder for prey to escape from their bites. Then they begin coiling their long bodies around their prey and squeezing the life out of them. Pythons have been known to take down animals many times bigger than themselves using this method.
It is their instinct to conceal themselves near game trails other animals might walk on and attack them before they know what hit them.
A Nasty Surprise
One day a five-year-old boy was excited to go swimming in his backyard pool with his 76-year-old grandfather. The in-ground pool was filled with cool water and surrounded by a brown sandstone patio. On the edge of the patio was a raised garden with eucalyptus plants growing in them. The family lived in Australia.
Out the sliding door the boy went. He only had eyes for the water in the pool. Had he been looking where he was walking, he might have seen the nine-foot-long python coiled up on the concrete. The python had slithered into the backyard under the fence.
The boy may have even stepped on it. It happened so fast. In a flash the snake swung his head towards the boy’s foot and sank its four rows of curved teeth into his heel. The boy screamed out in pain. Before the boy knew what was happening, the nine-foot-long python began coiling its body around the boy. The boy fell sideways into the pool with a splash.
If it were not for the 76-year-old grampa, the boy probably would have drowned in the pool with the snake coiled around him. As soon as he heard the scream, the grampa knew something terrible had happened. He ran to the boy who had fallen into the pool and jumped in the water. With one hand he grabbed the snake around its neck just behind its head and with the other hand he lifted the boy’s head out of the water so he could breathe.
Cradling the boy with the snake wrapped around him in his arms, he carried them out of the pool. Then by squeezing very hard, he got the snake to release its grip on the boy’s heel and was able to uncoil the snake from around his body.
Sobbing and scared, the boy was driven to the hospital where his wounds were cleaned and bandaged. Although pythons are non-venomous, they often carry diseases and germs that are harmful to humans, so the doctors gave the child medicines to prevent infection.
The Bitten Heel
The wounds on the back of the boy’s heel from the curved teeth of the python were fearsome looking. I am glad the snake attack on the boy didn’t turn out worse than it did.
The bite on the back of the boy’s heel reminds me of a Bible story found in Genesis 2. The story takes place in the beautiful Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve lived there, and God told them they could eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except one, the tree of good and evil. Somehow a serpent got into this garden too. This serpent was really the enemy of every person, the devil. He convinced Eve to eat of the one tree she was commanded not to. Then she gave the fruit to Adam and he ate too. This sad moment is how sin and death came into the world.
From that point on, all the children born into the world would be born with a sinful nature. This meant they would be easy prey for Satan. The ambush predator, Satan, had done his damage. If somebody stronger didn’t come to the rescue of the human race, they would remain in his clutches.
This One who is stronger is the Lord Jesus Christ. Although it was to take place several thousand years after the fall in the Garden, the coming of the Lord Jesus was foretold shortly after the fall of our first parents. The Lord God spoke to the serpent and said, “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:14-1514And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:14‑15)).
The Lord Jesus is the woman’s seed, meaning He was born of the virgin Mary. He came into this world and lived a life of total obedience to God His Father. His obedience led Him all the way to the cross. Satan, in his short-sightedness, thought he had won a great victory by inspiring men to nail the Lord Jesus to the cross to kill Him. This is how the serpent bruised His heel. The pain and agony the Lord Jesus felt at the cross was deep and real.
But at the cross, the Lord Jesus dealt a far more crushing blow to Satan and the powers of darkness. The death of the Lord Jesus was the ransom price required to set sinners free. “Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:2828Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)).
From that moment onward, the gospel was to be preached to all nations, telling sinners there is forgiveness for them through faith in the name of Jesus. By God’s grace, those who deserve death and hell through the sins they have done may repent and receive the gift of eternal life. This is how the Lord Jesus bruised the serpent’s head. Because He bruised Satan’s head, sinners can be set free from the power of sin and look forward to a home in heaven.
The grampa carried the boy out of the pool and got the snake to release its grip on him. The Lord Jesus is the only One who can come right where we are and break the power of sin in our lives so we may live through Him. His death was the ransom price to deliver us from the captivity and slavery of sin.
Will you believe in His wonderful name and receive eternal life?
Cows Corral Carjacker gives us another vital lesson from animals.