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Lessons of the Snake and Toad By Gary Jacques I couldn't believe what I was seeing in my backyard, and you may not believe the life lessons it taught me.
t was a beautiful summer day. Not too hot and not too cool. A perfect day just made for mowing the lawn. I had been mowing for about an hour when I noticed a toad directly in my path. I stopped walking and waited for the toad to get out of the way of the noisy gas-eating monster I was pushing.
I considered and decided to try to save the toad. I tried a number of things, but poking the snake in the eyes worked the best. The snake let go of his grip and "unswallowed" the toad. The toad didn't really move; the snake backed away. That was when I saw Mr. Toad had struggled so hard that he had broken one of his powerful legs. I have considered that snake and toad many times. It seems that there are so many les-sons in it -- especially when we consider that Satan is called a serpent, and we are his intended prey. Lesson #1: Our struggling cannot save us. It only helps Satan swallow us.
At the point the snake gets its fangs into the toad, the toad is dead. It doesn't mat-ter how long it is before the toad actually ceases to live. What sort of fangs does Satan try to sink into us? Maybe something in the Church appears to be wrong. Maybe the Church seems to have wrong priorities or there is a better way of doing something. Maybe someone has hurt our feelings. Maybe it's difficulties with family, people at work or neighbors. Maybe we have been unjustly accused or the victim of false rumors. Maybe it is our own inability to over-come.
It is important we understand that when Satan attacks, our ways can't save us. We need God's help, as Simon Peter did (Luke 22:31-32). How quickly do we seek the help of God? Or do we keep trying our own way until we break our own legs? Lesson #2: God's action is required to save us from Satan and his wiles. I kept poking the snake in the eyes until the snake wanted to get away from me more than he wanted that toad. God will do the same for us. So what is the process to secure God's rescue? "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). Step 1 is "submit" to God. We go to God in prayer and humbly ask for His help. We need God's protection from all of Satan's tricks and wiles. We need God's help to open our minds so we can see ourselves as God sees us and to see the situation we face as God sees it. We need to search the Scriptures to educate ourselves to the mind of God on the subject and related topics.
Step 3 is stick with it. God's way is to be practiced always, not just when the "difficulties" are upon us. Lesson #3: When we see a brother or sister struggling, we need to pray for him or her. Jesus Christ set us an example of praying for other Church members under attack by Sa-tan when He prayed for the apostle Peter (Luke 22:31-32). Is it an important part of our daily prayer? Let's not forget the lessons of the snake and the toad. God will give us the vic-tory if we seek His help, study His Word, put what God leads us to into action and remember to pray for each other. Recommended reading To learn more about what the Bible says about Satan and how to overcome his influ-ences, request or download our free booklet Copyright 2007 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved. |
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Keywords: Satan, fighting saving ourselves help, needing
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