Watch Out!

By F. D. Adkins

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1 KJV

This week as I worked on another piece of writing, I continued my study in the Bible on how the enemy deceives and attacks. And I began by pondering on the above verse. By pondering, I mean letting the scene fill my mind. Eve is in this beautiful garden in the midst of all of God’s creation. Then, guess who shows up? And he doesn’t appear bad to Eve. This snake (Satan) is a smooth talker, and soon, she is eating the fruit she knows she is not supposed to eat.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 KJV

When I picture a predator like a lion searching for its prey, I envision a sneak attack. The lion does not walk up and announce to the antelope that he is going to have him for dinner. Instead, the lion is lurking around where the antelope does not see him, waiting for the antelope to let his guard down. That is how the above verse describes our enemy. He is walking around in our little world waiting for the right moment which is why we are told to be on guard. We need to keep the armor of God on at ALL times.

“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 KJV

So far, I have found that the enemy can show up in the most beautiful places. He is a smooth talker. He is sly, sneaky, and moves with stealth. But this verse tells us, that the devil and his demons can transform themselves and appear to be good or righteous. This is scary, but if we study the word of God and we go to the Bible in search of Truth, we can identify and protect ourselves from the enemy in disguise.

Now, it’s time for my story for the week. As most of you know from my previous blogs, my husband and I are building a house, and we go there almost every evening and weekend to work. And you also know about my love for animals and have seen the many pictures I have posted of the creatures in the woods around our new house. And the other day started out the same as most. As I pulled up the driveway, I was excited to see a family of turkeys, and I stopped to take pictures of all the baby turkeys crossing the driveway, and I laughed at the one that had gotten distracted and had to cross all by himself. Then, as my husband was mixing mortar for the rock, I heard a noise in the woods and dashed off to get a picture of the two deer eating leaves. You get the idea. Beautiful woods… lots of animals… and I love to admire and photograph them.

We got to work, and obviously, we were making lots of noise with hammers and grinders. A few stones scattered the concrete porch along with tools. I had my water bottle sitting on the edge of the porch and my phone propped up on a rock that I had picked up several times to check for messages. I had grabbed up my gloves and shook them out. To sum up, I had been all around that porch for quite a while. Then… I reached for my phone, and I saw something move. One quick peek between the water bottle and the rock that I had just taken my phone from, and I knew from the pattern on its skin that it was bad. My husband came down from the ladder and took care of the copperhead. Still, I couldn’t believe that out of eleven acres of woods, this creature coiled up right there in the midst of the action and noise. And worse, I couldn’t believe that I had literally reached right over a poisonous snake and picked up my phone.

As you can tell from my little story, there is an exception to my love for animals. I am terrified of snakes. When I walk in the woods, I always keep my eyes peeled even though I know that I probably wouldn’t see them even if they were there. But I didn’t expect a snake to be on our porch when we were moving all around in that area and making all of this loud noise. It’s the same with the devil. He attacks us in places and times that we least expect it.

So, the Bible verse for this week is:

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11 KJV