Snakes in the Dark
“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:5
The great philosopher and thinker, Indiana Jones, once said, “I hate snakes.” I couldn’t agree more. I absolutely hate snakes. I really do. I used to say, “The only good snake is a dead snake.” However, that is not even true. Did you see in the news a while back where a man in Texas nearly died when he was bitten by the severed head of a dead rattle-snake. I hate snakes – big ones; little ones; live ones; dead ones; and rubber ones. I hate them all.
Not long after I moved to Fort Scott, I joined the American Legion. We hold our meetings at Memorial Hall which is two blocks from my house. When we have a meeting, I usually walk there. One night, I was getting ready to leave the monthly meeting when one of the guys in the Legion said, “Hey preacher, I read in your newspaper column that you are scared of snakes. You better be careful out there. The copperheads are crawling tonight.” I just laughed and thought, “What a crazy old man.”
I walked outside, and it was dark, but the streetlights were bright enough to enable me to see the sidewalks. So, I started walking. I was almost home, when I saw the biggest copperhead I have ever seen. He was stretched out across the sidewalk. He looked like a python. He must have been ten-foot long. I swear he looked at me and hissed. My heart was pounding in my chest.
I was stuck. The snake was between me and my house. I had to go around him. Then I thought, “There’s probably hundreds of them in the grass, waiting to get you.” But I had no choice. I ran as fast as I could through the grass around the giant copperhead. I ran into the house and screamed, “There’s a giant snake out there that almost killed me.” My wife, Amanda, rolled her eyes at me and said, “Poor baby.”
The next morning, I looked outside, and the giant snake hadn’t moved. It was still there!
I was shocked and amazed. I couldn’t believe the copperhead was still there. I looked closer. Then I realized it was a tree branch. A limb had fallen on the sidewalk. I nearly had a heart attack running from a tree branch.
The next time we had an American Legion meeting, I just drove the two blocks.
The point is: Things are always worse in the dark. When it is dark, we don’t see things like we normally see them. However, there are some things in the dark that are not a tree branch. Things like doubt, discouragement, and demons.
Often, when darkness comes in our lives, we tend to think, “God, I can’t see You. God, I can’t feel you.” When shadows obscure our walk, we believe we are walking alone. We focus on the gloom and forget God. We may even ask, “Lord, Are You still there?”
Even though you can’t see Him, Jesus has never taken His eyes off you. Even though you are walking in the darkness, He is still with you.
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Light of the world. He shines in the darkness, and the darkness can’t overtake Him. If you are traveling down a dark path, you don’t have to be afraid of the dark because the Light is with you. In Jesus, we have the only Light that we need to find our way through the darkness of this world.
Are you walking in the Light?
James Collins will be signing copies of his latest book “Don’t Throw The Believer Out With The Baptistry Water: The Best Of The Point Is… Volume 1” today (July 20th) from 10 am until 2 pm at the Fort Scott Public Library’s LibraryCon. For more information about the LibraryCon, please call (620) 223-2882.