The 911 call that came in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Department sounded serious. A resident of Lehigh Acres, Florida reported having found a 15-20 foot python under the hood of their car. Could someone be sent out to help?
Life in Southwest Florida is different than in Northeast Tennessee, for on staff with the Sheriff’s Department was a state-licensed python contractor (I don’t believe there is one of those in the area in which I live). Sgt. James Vanpelt calmly approached the car to raise the hood. What he found was not a python but a red rat snake; instead of the size that had been reported, it was closer to 4 feet. In a matter of minutes, the snake was removed from the vehicle’s engine compartment.
I’m not going to make fun of the resident who made the call. If I spot a snake hiding in my car, I’m likely to exaggerate its size, too. That’s why we call on experts like Vanpelt; they come to our rescue and easily take care of the menacing “beasts” that frighten us.
Much of the phobia that we have about snakes comes from Genesis 3. Satan appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent and deceived her into committing the first sin on record. Because of his lies, humanity has been subjected to various hardships, including the biggest hardship – death. No wonder most of us hiss when a snake is spotted!
Whom shall we call to help us with this horrible monster? God spoke to that serpent of the help that was to come in later times: the woman’s offspring “shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). A bruise to a heel is fairly minor; a bruise to the head is far more serious.
Generations later, Jesus embarked on His mission to earth, “that through death He might destroy the one who had the power of death, that is the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). What Jesus did was impossible for any human to do; we could only cower in fear as we watched the destruction Satan brings upon people. Jesus, however, easily defeated mankind’s greatest foe.
The “Ghostbusters” movies, first launched in 1984, made famous the question, “Who you gonna call?”, to which the answer was declared, “Ghostbusters!” Today we might ask the same question about this deadly serpent that threatens us: “Who you gonna call?” There’s only One who can help.
Make no mistake about it: Satan is deadly, and not to be toyed with. Jesus described him in John 8:44 as “a murder from the beginning” and “a liar”. He deceived the mother of us all, and he can deceive us. How thankful we should be that we have a Savior who calmly came to this world to save sinners like you and me (Luke 19:10)!
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2024, Timothy D. Hall
