Matthew
10:16 Contemporary
English Version
16 I am sending you like lambs into a pack
of wolves. So be as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves.
When Dad was teaching at Helderberg College, we lived in one
of their houses across the valley from the college. It was one of a row of five
houses nestled in a peach orchard. On occasion the farm manger, Lionel Webster,
would have the ground ploughed between the peach trees to keep the weeds down.
On those occasions I would set out, barefoot, through the freshly ploughed
clods to my friend John Raitt who lived next door. I would take frequent, short steps and
trample out a path we could use to visit each other.
On one such occasion, I came across a small snake. Much like
young Gerald Durrell on Corfu, I was enamored by the wealth of plants and
wildlife that flourished in the Western Cape of South Africa. I already knew
about many of the venomous African snakes such as puff adders, cobras, and
boomslangs. I didn’t even think of these snakes as I leaned over and picked
this snake up by the tail. This one was clearly not one of those poisonous
serpents.
I held it up by the tail, intrigued by three lumps under its
skin, each about a handsbreadth apart from the other. The snake’s head was well
off the ground, even though I was only about seven years old. I held it out at
arm’s length and watched, entranced, as the little lumps slid slowly down the snake’s body towards
its head. Suddenly the naked, slime covered, pink body of a baby mouse came out
of the snake’s mouth and dropped gently to the ground. This tiny pink, furless
mouse was galvanized into immediate action. It raced towards the nearest dark
gap under the clods and disappeared from sight. Looking back at the snake I was
delighted to see a second lump materialize into another naked pink body that
also disappeared under the clods. The third lump followed suit.
I dropped the snake and knelt on the soft ground to see what
had happened to the baby mice. They had totally disappeared. I have long since
wondered how they could have lived in the body of a snake for who knows how
long with no air and whether they died because they had no fur and so dried up
into a frizzle or actually survived and lived the normal life of a mouse.
I also can’t help but think of how Satan is often compared
to a snake. He wanders around doing his best to gobble up innocent souls. Then,
sometimes, along comes a messenger of God and releases the soul to give it
another chance at life. If we are fortunate to be released, do we dash away
from Satan's fearsome grip?
Thank You, Lord, for freeing us from the pitiless clutch
of Satan and aiding us as we dash away!
