In the wee hours of night, while I lay awake in the darkness, something long buried came to the fore-front of my mind. It was something that happened when my oldest daughter was about ten or twelve years old.
We had a finished basement of sorts. The usual small basement windows had been replaced with larger ones which slid and let in more light. Outside of them was a 'C' shaped metal form which kept the dirt from caving in around the windows. Kerry was downstairs one day, and something caught her eye in the window well. She began to watch. A brown toad was hopping, for all he was worth, trying to get out of the hole. Then she discovered why. A garden snake had joined the frog, and was attempting to catch him for his lunch.
Kerry watched as the toad kept hopping away from the predator. His inate desire was to be free of this enemy. The snake, on the other hand, was doing what his nature called him to do, to find something to eat. Eventually the determine toad was able to hop out of the hole and away from the snake. Kerry came up to report to me what she'd seen. After relaying her story, she finished by saying, 'there's a moral to the story, Mom. Good overcomes evil.'
As I thought about that last night, I could see the wisdom in my young daughter's comment. I thought about that toad. He was just happily living his life, like we do sometimes, unconcerned with anything much for that moment. Then, along comes a predator, a snake who sought to devour him. I thought about that snake. He is like the devil who sneaks up to devour us.
Then I thought again about the toad. He recognized that he'd be in trouble if he sat still, so hopped away, he tried to escape. He was not willing to lie there and let nature take its course. He wanted to be free of this danger. I thought about us, as humans. When the devil comes toward us, do we recognize him right away? And, what do we do when we see him coming? Do we run, or do we sit there idlely waiting to see what he'll do next?
The Bible tells us that the enemy comes, seeking to destroy and to devour us. It tells us that we should not be caught unaware, as he comes as a wolf in sheep's clothing. The Word tells us that we should resist the devil, to fight back. Running from the evil one is the only way to victorious living. As Christians, we should be instinctively aware that there is nothing we need from that snake, and we should do all we can to preserve our life.
Thank you Lord, for such a simple lesson.
