Who's The Boss, or, the Heart of Sin

This is the snake my son saw, can someone
identify it exactly??

As many of you know, I am an avid indoorsmen.  Do not let my rugged features and unkempt beard fool you.  My comfort with literature and feelings is significantly greater than my skills with tools and a trek through the woods. 

Recently the family and I went on a nature walk at a park by the Maumee river and my 10 year old discovered a very large snake in a large pile of rocks.  As most 10 year old boys would be he was very excited and could not wait to GRAB AN UNIDENTIFIED SNAKE THAT WAS 6 FT LONG!!!!!!!! 

This created quite a fun little argument between us.  As previously mentioned, I am not someone who is well versed in the things of nature, let alone which snakes are friendly and love being picked up by 10 year olds and which snakes will kill you with venom.  Firmly I told him to not try to poke him with a stick so that it would move close enough to grab.  He did not appreciate me "babying" him.  Because, obviously, at 10 years of age he is an expert on snakes and totally knows he will be fine.  I asked him to name the snake with 100% certainty and to tell me about its bite and venom. 

He could not.....

Teaching moments abound with children and their choices.  When you can't be certain about the danger of something, the risk of dying, or being seriously injured is far too great to just do whatever you want to do I told him.  Like most kids, he did not respond well to my wisdom. 

In the end I forced him to move on and he spent the rest of the day being angry that I just wouldn't "trust him".  I had taken a picture of  the snake and later was able to identify it as a poisonous snake that COULD HAVE KILLED HIM.  He was slightly apologetic. 

My sons reaction that day was a microcosm of our human condition.  Specifically, that we want to be the lords of our own lives and we want to believe that doing so will be consequence free.  In Genesis chapter 3 the serpent entices Eve with two powerful and attractive lies:

1- You do not need to listen to God and His standards, you can know for YOURSELF what is good and bad

2- You will not die(suffer consequences for rebellion)

Our world is in the constant state of pain and destruction that believing those two lies.  Each of us wants to believe that we know better than God.  I know what is true for ME.  God, my creator and sustainer, is WRONG.  We have set our eyes on such narrow and limited pleasures and hopes.  God has created us for much more than we can even see, yet we turn our backs on Him and scream "MINE". 

And then as pain and shame and guilt pile up we act surprised.  The response to rebelling against God and His word was shame and destruction and a distance between themselves and God,

"The woman was convinced.  She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.  So she took some of fruit and ate it.  Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he at it too.  At that moment their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness"- Genesis 3:6-7

It looks so good when we are staring longingly at the idea of being our own personal god.  To be wise.  To be in control.  To shake our fist at the world and demand it conform to our own will.  We reach out to pluck it from its branch to indulge our self-centerdness with the hope and expectation that this will finally be the answer to all our questions. 

And then we know shame.

And guilt.

And separation. 

There is a quote from Ravi Zaccharias that I think on often as I struggle with my own propensity to demand that my will is greater than Gods remind me of the truth that lies try to hide.

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. –”

― R Zaccharias

You can claim all you want that the snake won't bite.  But it will. 

Trust God.  He alone is good.  And even when it is hard.  He is the only one who knows what you truly need.