When Danny was a young boy, he enjoyed hunting for rattlesnakes with his dad. His dad gave Danny some good advice: “Never touch a rattlesnake!”
When Danny was 53 years old, he lived where he had some land and some horses. He hadn’t seen a rattlesnake in the five years he’d owned his property. Rattlesnakes where Danny lives inject a poison that kills living tissue, stops blood from clotting, and shuts down body organs. If the bite isn’t treated right away, it can cause death. That’s why I’m sure Danny wishes he had listened to the advice he got from his dad when he was a boy.
One Monday night, he was feeding his horses when a five-foot rattlesnake slithered up where Danny and his son were working. Quickly, one of them grabbed an irrigation pipe and pinned the snake to the ground. While it struggled, the other one grabbed a shovel and cut off the head, hitting it a few times for good measure. That’s when Danny made a mistake. He thought, Wouldn’t a rattlesnake head make a nice souvenir?
Danny forgot his dad’s warning. When he reached down to pick up the rattlesnake’s head, it raised up and bit his finger! A rattlesnake’s heat-seeking and touch sensors can both function for a while after it dies and make its muscles react without its brain telling them what to do.
Danny would have ignored the bite, but his wife insisted they head for the hospital. Ten minutes later, with his tongue already swelling and the snake poison spreading, they reached the hospital. In minutes he was in an ambulance, heading for a larger hospital where he could get a full antivenin treatment. Two days later he came home from the hospital.
The rattlesnake reminds me of another enemy we have — Satan, or the devil. He was defeated by the Lord Jesus at the cross. But that doesn’t mean we should challenge Satan or ignore the power he still has. “Your [enemy] the devil, as a roaring lion, [walks] about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)).
Satan hides his deadly poison in things that look inviting. There are books and magazines, games and other entertainment that have the poison of sin mixed with them. The Lord Jesus gave us the perfect example for resisting Satan, by using His Word to defend against the devil. You can read about it in Luke 4:1-131And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. (Luke 4:1‑13). Notice how many times Jesus says, “It is written,” and then quotes the Word of God.
Messages of God’s Love 12/24/2023