The Fragile Rattlesnake

John 3:14
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up…”

The rattlesnake is a dangerous creature, but surprisingly vulnerable. Believe it or not, rodents, rather than being easy victims of the rattlesnake, are one of the rattlesnake’s greatest enemies. Ground squirrels will sometimes attack rattlers, lunging and biting them. Ground squirrels can inflict wounds that become infected and cause the snake’s death. They often get away with this because their reflexes are so much faster than the snake’s.

Those who handle rattlesnakes must be careful of their bite. But they must be equally careful about how they pick the snake up because its neck is easily broken. If a rattler is trapped for only 20 minutes in the noonday sun, it can go into convulsions. And if it is placed on ground with too steep an incline, its heart, unable to pump uphill, may fail. In fact, simply handling a rattler may cause it to starve itself to death.

Scripture refers to the devil as the “serpent” many times. However, just as the rattlesnake is deadly yet vulnerable, so too is the devil – truly deadly, yet vulnerable. All who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior from sin, death and the devil have that victory through Christ, even though the devil would like us to forget that he is a beaten foe.

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I thank You that through Your innocent suffering and death You have delivered me from sin, death and the devil. While I know that in this life I will still have to contend with the devil, always keep me mindful of how You have beaten him for me. Amen.

Notes:
Photo: By looking at it, you’d never imagine that a California ground squirrel can be a rattlesnake’s worst nightmare. Courtesy of Benefactor123. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.