Wise As A Serpent and Innocent As A Dove

Reading:  Matthew 9, 10
My Verse:   "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep
                        in the midst of wolves,
                        so be wise as serpents
                        and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16).

Find this to be such a contrast.  You are telling me that I need to be both "wise as a serpent" and "innocent as a dove."  In my mind I think this doesn't seem possible.  This seems to be another one of those instances where my understanding is either lacking or wrong or both!  LORD God, help me to learn here what You are meaning when you tell me to be as both serpent and a dove.

My online dictionary defines serpent as:
     1.  a snake
     2.  a wily, treacherous, or malicious person
     3.  the Devil; Satan

So perhaps that is why I am thinking as I do.  But Genesis 3:1 says,

    "Now the serpent was more crafty 
        than any other beast of the field 
        that the LORD God had made."

One forgets, LORD God, that You created the serpent just like all the other creatures.  And when you were done creating you said.

     "And God saw everything that he had made,
         and behold, it was very good"  (Genesis 1:31).

So the serpent, at one time, was "good" like all the other creatures You created.  The Amplified Bible says, "wary and wise as serpents."  The NIV notes state that at one time the serpent was "the symbol of shrewdness and intellectual cunning."   These definitions seem to reflect the hand of satan.  Once Satan used the serpent for his purposes he forever warped what You, LORD God created as good.

It is hard for me to think of the serpent as good and as wise, but because You use the serpent to represent wiseness it is obvious You are referring to him before Satan forever warped our image of this creature.  You created him to be "more crafty than any other creatures of the field." And that is how you want us to be - wise, intelligent, skillful, ingenious, dexterous in how we handle ourselves out in the world.

And yet I am to also be "innocent as a dove."  I like how the Amplified Bible defines this:  harmless, guileless, and without falsity.  The dove as defined in my online dictionary when referring to a person says this:  an innocent, gentle or tender person.

To be innocent is to be:
   1.  free from moral wrong; without sin; pure
   2.  not involving evil intent or motive
   3.  having or showing the simplicity or naivety of an unworldly person;
        guileless; ingenuous.

I really like that.  Last night I watched the free skate program for women.  There was a young
gal from Japan who was lovely as she truly portrayed an innocent in her beautiful performance.

So while these two traits seem to be at odds I do see the necessity of both.  Thank you, LORD
God, for this.  Thank you for telling me to use my head, my intellect as I navigate this world.  Thank you for reminding me that I also need to be free from moral wrong, without sin and pure in my personal self.

I like how Paul says this in Romans 16:19.

   "But I want you to be wise as to what is good,
       and innocent as to what is evil."


Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
       

Begged Him to Leave . . .

Reading:  Matthew 8
My Verse:  ". . . they begged him to leave their region" (Matthew 8:34)

What a response to the completely unprecedented and miraculous things Jesus was doing.  The establishment became afraid of him, they plead with him to go away!

Jesus was doing such wondrous things!

- he healed a leprous man
- he healed a centurion's servant from afar
- he healed Peter's mother-in-law of a fever
- he cast out demons
- he told would be followers to give up everything to follow him
- he calmed great storms at sea
- demons knew him and feared him

And yet after all this he was asked to leave, to go away because instead of worshipping him the church leaders feared him!

It is good to have law, order and systems in place to help us stay on a certain path, in a disciplined way of living.  I am reading Brooks "The Road to Character."  He speaks of Ida Eisenhower, Dwight Eisenhower's mother.  She emphasized the "importance of practicing small acts of self-control . . ."
He also quoted from psychologist William James treatise called "Habit."

"You want to engrave certain habits so deep that they will become natural and instinctual.
  Take advantage of every occasion to practice your habit.
  Practice a gratuitous exercise of self-discipline every day.
  Ascetism of this sort is like the insurance which a man pays on his house.
  The tax does him no good at the time, 
   and may possibly never bring him a return.
   But if the fire does come,
   his having paid it will be his salvation from ruin."

But there is also a danger to this.  As with the church leaders in the day of Jesus.  Their
systems and traditions became their god.  They did not even recognize the real thing, Jesus, when he came.  Instead they saw him as a threat to their established way of life.

I like that Brooks points out that while it is so important for us to exercise self-discipline we cannot do it on our own.  We cannot rely on ourselves as we are flawed.  We always need help from outside ourselves. And that help is You, LORD God.

Thank you for reminding me that I must ever keep my eyes on You.  Thank you for reminding me that yes, I need to have self-discipline but I cannot go it on my own and should never expect that of myself.

"Be merciful unto me, O Lord:
   for I cry unto thee daily.
 Rejoice the soul of thy servant:
   for unto thee, O Lord,
   do I lift up my soul"  (Psalm 86:3,4)

Keep me LORD God from sending You away!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!