Lions and Snakes

This morning I read Psalm 91. Below are verses 11 and 12.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.  – Psalm 91:11-12

This passage may be familiar to you; this is one of the scriptures that Satan tried and failed to use against Jesus in the wilderness temptation (Matthew 4). He hoped that Jesus would cast himself from the pinnacle of the temple and be rescued by angels. He tried to appeal to Jesus’ pride and short-circuit and destroy Jesus’ mission.

Of course, Satan failed. You can’t appeal to the “pride” of the One who had humbled himself far beyond anything we can imagine (Philippians 2).

Satan’s choice of this passage also demonstrates either Satan’s utter lack of irony or God’s sense of humor, or both. Satan, whom the Bible calls a “roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8) and who took the form of a snake in the temptation of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3) picked Psalm 91:11-12.

I guess he forgot to look at verse 13:

You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

Our enemy, in any literal or metaphorical form he chooses to manifest himself, is no match for Lord Jesus.

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