READ: Matthew 10:16-23
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” – Matthew 10:16
The wisdom of a serpent is the ability to function without unduly attracting your enemy’s attention. There is such is the enmity between human beings and serpents! Yet snakes flourish and are abundant all around us. How do they do this? By wisdom!
If you kick a newborn Doberman pinscher or Alsatian dog, it will probably die. But if that same Alsa- tian or Doberman was allowed to de- velop and grow, it could probably kill you. When our church used to meet in the canteen of the medical school, we never placed a signboard outside the church. I did not want to attract
attention. I knew that if we attracted attention unduly, hateful people would drive us away. Through wisdom we were able to run a large Charismatic church in the middle of a teaching hospital for almost four years.
Later on, we faced stronger attacks to get rid of us from the hospital. But our church had flourished and we had a member of the board of the medical school in our church. This slowed down the pressure that was building up against us and allowed us enough time to acquire our own church building and move out.
A Christian leader should never underestimate the amount of hatred that Satan and his agents have for the man of God. There is an instinctive and inherent hatred for the kingdom of God (Matthew 10:22). Learn the wisdom of the serpent: the wisdom to hide and to flourish!