Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Living in the middle of the desert, my wife has taken up a new interest in desert walking. Now, a desert walk is not your average walk. The other day, my wife stumbled over a rock and found herself a few inches away from a good sized yellow scorpion. For those of you who don’t know, yellow scorpions are considered the most dangerous in Israel – a sting from even a small one can be fatal.
When that rock was overturned and the scorpion came scattering out, Rivka jumped back, frightened of what could happened next. Interestingly though, it seemed to be a little disoriented, wavering to and fro and getting ready to strike in the wrong direction. Thankfully, that gave her enough time to flee the scene.
Later, a good friend of ours here who knows a lot about desert life shed some light on the matter. She told us that these creatures live where it’s dark, such as in crevices and under rocks. And when they are suddenly exposed to the light, they do in fact become disoriented. “We need not fear them for this reason,” she said, “When we come upon a scorpion that way, they are easy to kill.” She went on to explain, however, that it is at night that we really have to be careful. “It’s dark out, so they’re out and about. They can see us coming from a far and strike before we even know it”.
Hmmm. Seems like there’s a good analogy here. Scorpions live in the darkness, and when suddenly exposed to extreme light, they are caught off guard and become confused. This gives us power over them — we need not be afraid.
In the same way, when we’re walking in the light, we need not fear those temptations and distractions that come up from the darkness to paralyze us with their poisonous venom. They too can be exposed, brought to the light, caught off guard, and tread upon once and for all!
We have victory over the enemy! Let’s cower in his presence no more! Let’s step on the spiritual scorpions that have kept us bound up for so long! There is SO MUCH work to be done for the Lord!!