Mark 16:18 (New International Version)
18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
There is a group of folks, mostly centered in rural areas of the US, that have taken this passage as a directive to handle deadly snakes as an example of faith or God's power, or something. They dance and sing and play around with rattlesnakes, almost in a trance state. That has more of paganism then Christ in it and in my mind does not really prove much in any case. I doubt they drink poison. Quaffing a tumbler of cyanide would be more impressive and substantive.
The other day I joined my wife as well as Sophie the Superdog and some others for a hike in a local woodlands park. It is full into snake season here and I have already seen three rattlers. Concern for the dogs drove some of the conversation that day as we walked...snake bit dogs are not a good thing.
I turned back early to do some things at home and walked alone back to the car. Nearly there, in a wide section of road, a remarkable thing happened.
I kicked a rattlesnake.
I am pretty well trained at looking where I walk and scanning the trail ahead, likely a habit of years and years of trail riding on mtn bikes. But I was off in some other place with my thoughts that moment and my eyes were high in the distance. Out of my peripheral vision, and straight down, I caught a shape on the ground that seemed out of place. As I stepped by, I felt a 'thump' on the bottom of my right foot (shoe) that caused me to pause and see what I had just found.
There, crawling across the road was a 6" to 8" rattler. He or she was not even upset, not rattling with the two buttons it had nicely in place, and not even looking miffed. Can a snake slither casually? This one was. I had just whacked it on the head with my shoe, or maybe it had actually struck out at me, but if so, it sure was not expecting another fight out of me.
I walked over and looked at the snake as it passed off the road into the grass and said, "thank you Lord". I was unusually calm. I mean, the snake was not at all bothered and it seemed reasonable that I, being a mature adult, should display at least as much poise as a young rattlesnake.
I turned and walked away and thought of how God watches over us and shows us grace. That could have been a very different outcome. But the God that is big enough to create the universe and calm a sea can keep a snake from harming me.
I mentioned it to a co-worker and he said the typical response to a story like that - "Boy, you sure were lucky". I think not. I have struggled with the question of how much God actually puts a hand in as far as details of everyday life. Is there really even any room for luck or chance? I do not know.
But I know this as much as I know anything at all...it was God's hand that spared me on that trail. I cannot prove it, but I know it. But life demonstrates this as well: It does not always work that way. God's people get cancer. They struggle. They lose jobs and lose loved ones. The difference is in the Christ follower's faith and certainty that we do not know the future but we serve the one that does.
God is good and merciful and watches over foolish sheep like myself; the Good Shepherd is on guard. But if I had been bitten, and I had suffered...it would not have changed God's goodness or his grace or his love.
My circumstances do not dictate God's character or limitations, but offer an opportunity to glorify Him regardless of the outcome.
There is a group of folks, mostly centered in rural areas of the US, that have taken this passage as a directive to handle deadly snakes as an example of faith or God's power, or something. They dance and sing and play around with rattlesnakes, almost in a trance state. That has more of paganism then Christ in it and in my mind does not really prove much in any case. I doubt they drink poison. Quaffing a tumbler of cyanide would be more impressive and substantive.
The other day I joined my wife as well as Sophie the Superdog and some others for a hike in a local woodlands park. It is full into snake season here and I have already seen three rattlers. Concern for the dogs drove some of the conversation that day as we walked...snake bit dogs are not a good thing.
I turned back early to do some things at home and walked alone back to the car. Nearly there, in a wide section of road, a remarkable thing happened.
I kicked a rattlesnake.
I am pretty well trained at looking where I walk and scanning the trail ahead, likely a habit of years and years of trail riding on mtn bikes. But I was off in some other place with my thoughts that moment and my eyes were high in the distance. Out of my peripheral vision, and straight down, I caught a shape on the ground that seemed out of place. As I stepped by, I felt a 'thump' on the bottom of my right foot (shoe) that caused me to pause and see what I had just found.
There, crawling across the road was a 6" to 8" rattler. He or she was not even upset, not rattling with the two buttons it had nicely in place, and not even looking miffed. Can a snake slither casually? This one was. I had just whacked it on the head with my shoe, or maybe it had actually struck out at me, but if so, it sure was not expecting another fight out of me.
I walked over and looked at the snake as it passed off the road into the grass and said, "thank you Lord". I was unusually calm. I mean, the snake was not at all bothered and it seemed reasonable that I, being a mature adult, should display at least as much poise as a young rattlesnake.
I turned and walked away and thought of how God watches over us and shows us grace. That could have been a very different outcome. But the God that is big enough to create the universe and calm a sea can keep a snake from harming me.
I mentioned it to a co-worker and he said the typical response to a story like that - "Boy, you sure were lucky". I think not. I have struggled with the question of how much God actually puts a hand in as far as details of everyday life. Is there really even any room for luck or chance? I do not know.
But I know this as much as I know anything at all...it was God's hand that spared me on that trail. I cannot prove it, but I know it. But life demonstrates this as well: It does not always work that way. God's people get cancer. They struggle. They lose jobs and lose loved ones. The difference is in the Christ follower's faith and certainty that we do not know the future but we serve the one that does.
God is good and merciful and watches over foolish sheep like myself; the Good Shepherd is on guard. But if I had been bitten, and I had suffered...it would not have changed God's goodness or his grace or his love.
My circumstances do not dictate God's character or limitations, but offer an opportunity to glorify Him regardless of the outcome.
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