Luke 10:17-29

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.  Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

When I lived in West Virginia , I knew about the Pentecostal churches that were famous for snake-handling. Part of the weekly worship service was for the preacher, and often members of the congregation, to play with poisonous snakes. The only time these churches received any publicity, however, was when the preacher or the congregant got bitten and died. Then there was always a big write-up in the paper with the underlying theme being how foolish and stupid these people were.

It is one thing to believe that God will save us from danger. It is another to deliberately put ourselves in harm’s way just to test the promises of God, or at least our beliefs in God. I trust that God will protect me. But if I drive like a maniac, I do not expect God to defend and protect my foolishness. We have all been behind those cars going down the interstate like the proverbial bat out of hell on which, attached to the back bumper, was a sticker that read “God is my co-pilot.” I must admit that it has been times like these when I wanted such people to get their come-uppings.

But I do know that there have been many, many times in my life when I cheated death or at least cheated disaster. Many accidents that should have happened did not. Why they did not, why I escaped harm that should have happened, all that is beyond me. I have to believe that God had a hand in my safety somewhere. We have all courted disaster and lived to tell about it.

Yet, all that being true, it still does not give us permission to deliberately put God to the test or test the patience of God, which I think the snake-handlers are doing. When I put my hand into the fire, I expect to be burnt. I deserve to be burnt, faith or no faith. Fire was not meant for play. Venomous snakes are meant to be avoided not to be used as playthings. But, then, I must also remember that a car was meant for transportation and not to see if I can drive like a fool and still survive.

What I do believe is that God does protect us and look out and watch over us. When we accidentally find ourselves in danger, more often than not God saves us from harm. But sometimes God does not. Why God chooses to save one time and to allow harm to happen another, I do not know. Again, what I do know is that God while God may put me to the test, because that is a God-prerogative, I am not to put God to the test.

I pray: Lord, I know that I sometimes do some very foolish things, that you have protected me from myself. Help me to be less foolish today and more aware of your presence that I may do what I know I should and not do what I know I shouldn’t. Amen.