The Amazing Mongoose

Psalm 58:3-5
“The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stopeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.”

The mongoose is a superb snake fighter. The little creature is about three feet long and weighs about ten pounds. In many parts of the world, a mongoose is kept as a house pet because they keep the snake population down. This includes some of the most poisonous snakes in the world.

One of the most amazing features of the mongoose is its ability to walk away from a snakebite. Even if a cobra bites a baby mongoose, the baby mongoose is not in the least affected by the venom. This is because the mongoose has venom antibodies in its bloodstream and nervous system. Scientists studying mongoose behavior have found that even a mongoose that has been raised by humans and has never seen a snake instinctively knows how to effectively attack and kill a snake on sight.

The mongoose’s size, shape and speed all show it to be perfectly designed for killing snakes. Its amazing ability to ignore snake venom and its internal programming that allows the mongoose to be an effective snake-killer and friend to man certainly shows the power and wisdom of the Creator. Now, if He can make a creature such as the mongoose to protect humans from earthly serpents, we know that He is also able to provide us with protection from that old serpent, the devil, through His Son, Jesus Christ!

Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, Your wisdom in the creation is but a dim reflection of Your great wisdom in Your plan of salvation. Help me to remember this, especially when I am under attack by the devil. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Notes:
Bob Devine, Uncle Bob’s Animal Stories (Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1986), pp. 7-9. Photo: Dwarf mongoose. Courtesy of Miika Silfverberg. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.