It was a warm, peaceful evening in Africa, and Kelolo was sitting outside enjoying the breeze. Unknown to him, a spitting cobra, which is a poisonous African snake, was slithering towards him in search of supper - a frog that was sitting on the other side of Kelolo.
Kelolo felt what seemed to be a drop of water on his arm and, at the same time, heard a noise like a person blowing out his breath. Kelolo knew instantly what it was - a cobra had spit at him! Thankfully, the cobra’s venom had not gotten into Kelolo’s eyes.
Cobras are nervous and some will spit venom if they feel threatened. They aim for the eyes and can spit their poison more than nine feet! If the cobra’s venom had gotten into Kelolo’s eyes, he would have had intense pain in his eyes and could have been blinded.
The cobra reminds me of Satan. Satan wants to blind your eyes to God so you will not understand the truth about God. The Bible tells us this in 2 Corinthians 4:44In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4): “The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Satan does not want you to enjoy God’s love and His forgiveness of your sins, and so he tries to spit venom into your mind to poison it with lies about God.
Once Satan has blinded your mind, he then wants to destroy you, just as the cobra would have bitten Kelolo if Kelolo had not gotten away from him. The cobra’s bite is dangerous. If it had bitten Kelolo, he might have died if he did not get the proper antivenin within a few hours. As sinners, we are all under Satan’s power and need help to be freed. We are unable to get out of his grasp by ourselves. Only Jesus, God’s Son, can free us and give us life. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)).
That cobra flattened out his neck by moving his neck ribs to give the appearance of a hood around his head. When a cobra expands his hood, it looks bigger and scarier when he attacks, and Satan often tries to scare us even after we are saved. But we don’t have to let him scare us, because Jesus’ power is stronger than Satan. If Jesus has saved you, you need not fear Satan, because “greater is He [Jesus] that is in you, than he [Satan] that is in the world” (1 John 4:44Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)).
Kelolo got away from the spitting cobra, and, using a hoe and a stick, he was able to kill the poisonous snake. We are not able to destroy Satan, but we can ask for protection from the Lord Jesus, who has already defeated Satan and one day will get rid of him completely: “The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone” (Revelation 20:1010And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)).
Don’t let Satan blind you to God’s love. Trust Jesus to wash your sins away and free you from Satan’s control and his power of death. Then everlasting life and the many blessings that God wants to give to you will be yours.
ML-02/22/2004