When the Enemy Gets in Your Way, Stomp Past him!
My daughter stomped on a snake! We were out doing a fall nature walk, collecting leaves and enjoying the last bit of warm sunshine before winter sneaks up on us. We rounded a corner, and there on the sidewalk was a large blackish grey snake. She never saw it coming. Before I could yell, SNAKE!!! She had trampled over it.
I am not sure if snakes are capable of jumping? (DON’T answer that) Or if she somehow flung it airborne? (Eww….) But that horrid thing went into the air, landed once again on the sidewalk, and slithered away as if she was a ferocious predator. It was so quick that she never saw the snake she smashed over, even after I managed to obtain enough breath to holler that there was a snake not only in the vicinity, but UNDER MY DAUGHTER!
Something about smashing snakes seems Biblical. I was reminded of the verse in which God is giving out consequences for the direct disobedience that occurred in the Garden of Eden. He pronounces punishment on the deceitful serpent first, before Eve and Adam respectively.
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring (or seed) and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Well I certainly have enmity for any slithery thing that crawls on its belly, and I watched my offspring stomped right over a serpent-like creature!
You see, my daughter wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was running on the sidewalk (I thought sidewalks were safe!?), as I had instructed her to. The Lord used this occurrence to remind me that there will be snakes in our way, that we won’t always see coming. If we are running the race we are called to be, we may be able to victoriously “crush” the snake and move on.
But people and the world can distract us from the race we are called to run. If I had yelled a second earlier she may have stopped right on the snake. If she had seen the snake in her path as soon as she turned the corner, she may have stopped right close to the snake and gotten bitten.
Now, I am not sure this was a venomous viper, but I am certainly glad we didn’t have to figure it out on this day. I would imagine that stomping on a snake AND staying there would at least get a person “struck” by the snake, whether it was venomous or not. Don’t let what others are doing, or the fear of the battle, distract you from the race God has called you to run.
Sometimes even when we aren’t distracted, the enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy will attack us. Much like shipwrecked Paul, who was ashore on Malta gathering brushwood for the fire (Acts 28: 1-10), he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Out of nowhere, a viper fastened itself on his hand. The islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand (OH MY WORD!!!!) and called him a murderer.
Although he had survived a shipwreck, they knew he wouldn’t survive this attack and considered it to be justice upon him. They expected the marooned prisoner to swell up or suddenly fall over dead because of the kind of snake that had bitten him. The islanders had seen the snake before, and knew what it’s bite brought.
But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. Seriously!? The Bible says not a single symptom! After this, the islanders instead called him a god. Their words, both accusing and exalting, didn’t distract Paul. The venomous viper didn’t overcome Paul. He kept running the race he was called to, and with the Lord’s help, he overcame the attacks of the enemy even though he was outmatched.
That snake could have easily bitten my daughter, if he would have seen her coming. May she always have courage to sneak up on and trample over the “snakes” in her way. May she never be distracted from running the race she is called to by the discouraging or encouraging words and actions of those around her. May she overcome the attacks of the enemy, that certainly lie ahead, whether she sees them coming or not. In Jesus name, Amen!
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