Your Daily Slice

 

SHEVAT 28

Wise as Serpents

  

“BE WARY AND WISE as serpents, and BE INNOCENT (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves.” (Mat 10:16 AMPC, emphasis mine)

 

I do not care for snakes, any snake, and though rattle snakes can be found in our area, we have been blessed to see very few on our property. There was a season of my life when we lived in the state of Texas – there are snakes in Texas, nasty, venomous ones, too – and many times I heard the saying that the only good snake is a dead snake.  However, despite my personal feelings, I knew that there was a reason for this verse being in Elohim’s Word; there is a lesson to be learned here.

 

According to the Scriptures, the serpent, or snake, represents cunning, intellectual keenness, and wariness.  Genesis describes the serpent as being ‘crafty, shrewd, subtle and sly’ (‛ârûm, Strong’s H6175, Gen 3:1), an image that most of us carry when we think of snakes. The serpent is also the ancient Egyptian symbol of ‘wisdom’, and most every snake has great skill in avoiding danger.  These reptiles are very cautious when it comes to their own safety (Gen 3:1; Ps 58:5), and very few will attack unless provoked. 

 

A dove, meanwhile, symbolizes innocence, purity, simplicity, and sincerity (Hos 7:11), and they are completely without any form of deception.  Most of us are familiar with the dove as symbols of shalom, and of the Spirit of Elohim.  Of further note is the fact that doves were acceptable offerings under the sacrificial system, recognized and accepted for their purity and innocence.

 

The innocence of the dove can be too naïve, even too gullible, if not balanced with the cunning and shrewdness of the serpent.  We need both, under the guidance of the Holy Breath of Yahweh, to be successful as we walk as sheep among the wolves of this world.  As children of the living Elohim, as ambassadors of His kingdom, we need to reflect this balance between wisdom and vulnerability.  We cannot be deceitful connivers, like the serpent, but nor can be gullible and easy prey, like the dove.  Firm, as we stand facing any conflict, we know that because of Him to whom we belong, we can deal with whatever comes our way, and always with the integrity of our Abba Father.

  

“For IN HIM we live and move and have our being …” (Acts 17:28 NKJV, emphasis mine)

 

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