Today's Journal

SNAKE STORIES

I suppose Snake Stories have a different meaning to those who have been around snakes and those who haven’t. I have been around snakes.

In Exodus 4 we read a Snake Story from Moses. After he had been chosen by the Lord to go back to Egypt as a deliverer of the people, he gave various excuses to the Lord why this was not a good idea.

“The Lord said, “What’s that in your hand?” Moses replied, “A shepherd’s rod.” The Lord said, “Throw it down on the ground.” So Moses threw it on the ground, and it turned into a snake. Moses jumped back from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out and grab the snake by the tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a rod in his hand. “Do this so that they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, and Jacob’s God has in fact appeared to you.” (Exodus 4:2-5)

This was the first ‘sign and wonder’ for Moses and the Lord added two others: a hand that turned leprous and was then healed by placing it inside his coat and the third was taking water from the Nile River and pouring it on dry ground and it would turn to blood. (Exodus 4:6-9)

But this is what Snake Stories can do to a person: “But Moses said to the LORD, “My Lord, I’ve never been able to speak well, not yesterday, not the day before, and certainly not now since you’ve been talking to your servant. I have a slow mouth and a thick tongue.” (4:10)

That’s what happens when people mess around with snakes… even when talking to the Lord.

“These signs will be associated with those who believe: they will throw out demons in my name. They will speak in new languages. They will pick up snakes with their hands. If they drink anything poisonous, it will not hurt them. They will place their hands on the sick, and they will get well.” Jesus