Ps. 91:12-13. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash you foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra; the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
The college I attended is not far from the foothills of the Blue Mountains in southeastern Washington State. Like the Cascade Mountains, the Blues are largely hard volcanic basalt rock. So river valleys typically have numerous rocky crags and cliffs projecting from their slopes.
One afternoon in the early spring of my freshman year, two friends and I went for a hike up the South Fork of the Walla Walla River, just across the border into Oregon. Like most spring days in that part of the country, the sky was blue and the sun was shining, although it was quite cool. After driving up the river as far as we could go, we decided to climb up the northern face of the valley (the one bathed in sunlight) to see if we could spot any of the elk herds that come down out of the mountains to winter in the lower elevations. There was no trail, so we each started climbing up the slope as best we could, working our way around and over boulders. Eventually we came to a rather large abutment which had several narrow fissures and leads through which we each could work.
The college I attended is not far from the foothills of the Blue Mountains in southeastern Washington State. Like the Cascade Mountains, the Blues are largely hard volcanic basalt rock. So river valleys typically have numerous rocky crags and cliffs projecting from their slopes.
One afternoon in the early spring of my freshman year, two friends and I went for a hike up the South Fork of the Walla Walla River, just across the border into Oregon. Like most spring days in that part of the country, the sky was blue and the sun was shining, although it was quite cool. After driving up the river as far as we could go, we decided to climb up the northern face of the valley (the one bathed in sunlight) to see if we could spot any of the elk herds that come down out of the mountains to winter in the lower elevations. There was no trail, so we each started climbing up the slope as best we could, working our way around and over boulders. Eventually we came to a rather large abutment which had several narrow fissures and leads through which we each could work.
I was about halfway up, climbing with hands and feet, when I realized that my right foot was standing on something sort of soft. Thinking it rather peculiar, I looked down, only to see that I
was standing on a moderate-sized Northern Pacific Rattlesnake. As the passage a
bove states, the angels bore me up from that point in a flash, without dashing my feet. In fact, one of my companions, not knowing of the circumstances yet, jokingly asked if I had even touched the rocks during the last part of my ascent. In retrospect, I came to realize that, while climbing, I had grabbed the rock no more than a foot from the snake, and my face and body had passed within the same distance as I ascended. One asks, why didn’t the snake strike? There are two explanations. First and foremost, I believe, was that the Lord protected me as He had promised. The second had to do with the time of year. While the day was sunny, it was early spring and there had been frost on the hills that morning. Snakes are “cold-blooded”; that is, they derive their body heat from the environment, and are slow moving if not warmed up. (A trick of nature photographers who want to get a “good” pose of a cold-blood animal is to put it into a refrigerator overnight before shooting pictures. When taken out, the animal can be posed and will sit quite motionless for a good period of time). Apparently my snake hadn’t warmed up to a useful (to it!) temperature yet.
During the next few years, there were a number of times that my brother and I went in search of rattlesnakes. But we always used snake sticks or nets to handle the snakes. I’m not convinced that the text I quoted gives me permission to tempt Mr. Serpent (the devil). While I am committed to serving the Lord, He will send his angels to protect me from and during encounters with the devil which are not of my own making. When I intentionally step on the snake, I am being presumptuous. It is so important to keep myself where the Lord would have me be, think and see what the Lord would have me to think and see, rather than to blunder off on my own, assuming there is no danger. Satan isn’t in the refrigerator yet!
Have a great day!
Dr. G
Photo of Northern Pacific Rattlesnake Copyrighted 2005 by Jeremiah Easter
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