Morning Devotionals

by Don Emmitte

 

March 3rd, 2008

 

“Snakes”

So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Genesis 3:14-15 NIV).

Don't you just love some of the scientific research that is done? Here's the latest from the Associated Press:

Two University of Virginia researchers believe that humans are genetically predisposed to be deathly afraid of snakes. Judy S. DeLoache, a U.Va. professor of developmental psychology, said she has a snake phobia, but wonders why. "The question was, where did that fear come from?" She believes it's because snakes would have posed a significant threat to our ancestors, so a fear of snakes remains hardwired into human brains today. Julia Dixon, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, thinks snakes have a bad rap, and said her agency spends time defending snakes." The general public out there thinks that the only good snake is a dead snake," Dixon said. But she notes that snakes are a key piece of the food chain because they eat mice, rats and other snakes. Dixon said the easiest way to identify dangerous snakes in Virginia is to look into their eyes. Virginia's venomous snakes have vertical pupils, similar to a cat's eye, and harmless snakes have round pupils. Either way, it is usually best to leave the snake alone, she said.

Well, a couple of things come to my mind, First, I'm not looking into a snakes eyes to figure out if it’s dangerous or not. And, second, at least for me, the only good snake is one that I've chopped up enough until it no longer wiggles!

Seriously, the bible is clear about the natural fear that we have toward snakes. It is a part of the curse found in our reading today. There is, however, a deeper truth. Snakes shouldn't frighten us nearly as much as the underlying reason for the fear in the first place. Sin is the real killer of the human race. And, the only remedy for that is the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Have you turned to Him today?