Peanut AKA Eve

By Guy K. Henry

www.guyhenry.com 

This evening I took my Peanut outside for some fresh air. All of a sudden I felt her leash pull tight. The fur on Peanut’s back was bristled up in alarm, and she was barking into the grass.

I thought she had found another mouse, so I said to her, “Stop playing with your food!”

Then I saw something that made me yank her leash and cause her to launch into the air. It was a snake. Now normally snakes do not bother me, but this one was behaving differently than others I’ve seen. Normally a snake will retreat rather than face a foe like Peanut. Not this one, it was arched up in the air flashing its white underbelly at Peanut. I adjusted Peanut’s leash to its shortest length. Then I leaned forward to try and identify this odd snake. Not a copperhead, nor a water moccasin. The shape of the head was wrong. Not a garter or a baby black snake, wrong markings. I noticed that the nearby grass was vibrating at a fast rate. Then I identified that at the tail end of the snake was a rattle. A RATTLESNAKE!!!

I took Peanut to my front step and immediately examined her for signs of a venomous bite. Her little heart was beating normally. She wasn’t sore anywhere. My prayers were answered, she was all right.

I marched Roscoe and a red longhaired dachshund, who I’ve been watching until find her owner, into the safety of the house. I believe that we’ll all be spending a little more time indoors for a while!

I sat down and took a moment to think about what had happened. I thanked God that none of the precious babies was hurt. Then a thought occurred to me. I have often had the opinion that snakes in general get a pretty raw deal. Few other species inspire fear and hatred like the snake does. Even the rat has more friends than the snake. Until this evening I had a soft spot for the much maligned snake.

Tonight I was mad. This snake had threatened my precious long eared friends. If that snake had its way, my puppies would exist in my photo album, and not on my lap where they are right now. That nasty, evil, hateful snake wanted to take my best friends away from me. I poked that mean old snake and yelled, “Go away, and leave my buddies alone! You are not welcome here!”

I came to understand why the Bible uses the snake to represent Satan. It says of God in Revelation 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” We were created to praise and glorify God. We exist for God’s pleasure. He delights in us. We are His favorites. Satan arrived one day and literally stole us away. He poisoned Adam and Eve with the temporary pleasure of sin, and necessitated our separation from God.

As the snake stared down Peanut I can imagine him saying, “Eve, I mean Peanut, come here. How’d you like to be free of that lead? Just come closer. Trust me.”

If the snake’s venom had been injected into Peanut’s blood, we would have been separated by death. My sorrow would have been immeasurable.

Similarly, sin entered into the lives of Adam and Eve. We have the venom of sin coursing through our veins. That is the reason why we can’t see God today. We are separated from Him by the consequences of the poison of sin.

If that snake had bitten Peanut, I’d most likely have been powerless to reverse the effects of the venom. Thankfully, God is not powerless. He has provided a way to remove sin’s poison from our lives. That way was for Jesus to take our sin upon Him on the cross.

When we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins, he does. The venom is removed from our lives. He did that so one day we will be able to stand next to God and live. God will look at us and see NO sin. It will be gone. We will be cured.

You’ve already been bitten. Not by the rattlesnake in my yard, but by the fatal venom of sin. The Bible says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Then Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death”. Praise God, it continues, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)

I need Jesus. You need Jesus. Won’t you join me and call out to him and ask for forgiveness, removal,  and healing from sin?