“I am sending you out as sheep among wolves,” Jesus says.
You would imagine that a sheep among wolves would stand no chance at all. Not for a second!
And that’s how Jesus sees us Christ-followers. As sheep among wolves.
Yes, I have sometimes been a sheep among wolves…in toxic situations where I sense pretty much everyone was lying to me, about me, lying about events, danger I sometimes sensed, and sometimes did not. Where I was innocently in over my head in fraught, loaded situations in a toxic church I was once in; situations to do with business, or money, or in-laws. Experiences in my travels, or dealings with officialdom, where I had no power, and they apparently had it all, and all seems dark and hopeless.
You are in a fog, a fog of minor evil, where you are powerless, you don’t know what the truth is, and few seem to be speaking it.
What do you do in this fog, where everyone has their own agenda, and no one speaks truth to their neighbour? You shut up, as much as you can! You go still. You pray. I love Rumer Godden’s analogy in In This House of Brede—The more a bird caught in a net struggles, the further it gets entangled.
Yes, everything seems dark and hopeless, and then, suddenly, the fog clears, and there is light, and as if by magic, the situation resolves. In ways better than you could have hoped for.
What worked this magic? How does the fog sometimes lift?
Ah, the great Shepherd had his eye on his sheep all along, it turns out
We are sent out as sheep among wolves since the Great Shepherd knows it is safe to send us out.
What hope has the sheep among wolves? Only that the eye of the good and powerful shepherd is upon it. And that is enough.
* * *
When Jesus sends his disciples out as sheep in the midst of wolves, he offers them just one bit of armour, one bit of protection: Be as wise and shrewd as a serpent, and as innocent as a dove.
Because the life of Jesus is in us, because we are trying to march to a different drummer and do the right thing and obey the voice of Jesus, we are to be careful. We are telling the truth among people who might say whatever is necessary to achieve their objectives. We are trying to remain pure of heart among those playing to win. We are playing by different rules
So we need to be as wise as we possibly can, without sinning.
Oh dear, how can we be as shrewd and wise as a serpent, if we don’t feel very wise as I generally do not? If we despise being tricky?
We ask Jesus, the source of all wisdom for wisdom and guidance, step by step.
* * *
I love the heart-expanding call to love, to be merciful, to be open, giving to everyone who asks of us, to keep our hearts pure and kind.
I love too the call to wisdom, which is for our protection, we fluffy woolly sheep among wolves.
Be wise as a serpent who keeps its own counsel, who knows how to wait, who listens to signals and instincts deep within its blood and bones, resting in winter, moving fast when it needs to.
Elsewhere Jesus counsels, “Do not cast your pearls before swine, or they will trample them underfoot and then tear you to pieces.”
Be wise as a serpent when we know we are dealing with those who would abuse our generosity and kindness and rend us to pieces, who might twist our words and gossip about us.
It may not be possible to edit them out of our lives; we may belong to the same church or social circle. We may be related to them through blood or marriage, for a man’s enemies are often from his own household, as again Jesus warned us.
So then, heeding our instincts, we limit dealings with the unsafe, dangerous ones to limit the risk of being trampled underfoot and torn to pieces. We are careful about what we say in their presence and we say as little as possible. We avoid them as far as possible as a sheep instinctively avoids a wolf, as wild animals instinctively avoid larger animals and humans.
How grateful I am for these checks and balances. “Give to everyone who asks of you,” “love,” but also “Be wise as a serpent.”
* * *
Following Jesus is a bit like playing chess. There are rules and commandments, but infinite freedom and variations within it. It is not mechanical; what fun would there be in that? We need wisdom; we need guidance; we need to listen to Jesus before we move in fraught situations. We need the Spirit who will teach us what to say in tricky situations.
Ah, learning to follow Jesus…the task of a lifetime…and a rewarding one!
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What protection has the sheep among wolves? Only that the eye of the good shepherd is on it. NEW from @anitamathias1 
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More from my site
Forgive, but Remember Graciously. With the Wisdom of a Serpent & Gentleness of a Dove
On Extra Baggage, Making Peace with Mistakes and Cutting Emotional Losses
How to Evade a Trap. A Short Guide to Wisdom 
To Be Wise on Social Media
Thin Places: Where the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds is almost transparent
This article speaks to the situation I’m in right now. I have a friend
who attends a very small church group I go to on Friday nights.
There are occasional visitors, but for the most part the church consist
of about 12 regular members. It’s supposed to be geared towards
those that have been hurt in other churches who now prefer small groups.
The pastor also has a conventional church in another town. My friend
went there until she had to move away and she’s the one that asked the
pastor to hold this group for us in our city. He ministers and his wife
comes with him. His sister is the singer here and in his church. She is
sweet but only has a mediocre voice and seems very possessive of this
position in the church. Others with nicer voices (I’m not one of them)
are not allowed or encouraged to lead worship.
I’ve been to his other church, about an hour from here
on a Sun. morning and even that church has only about 50 regulars, a
lot of them are his family members. This friend I refer to seems to be
very insecure. A few times I confided in her some things and she seemed
for a while to be trustworthy. But as time goes by I have a strong sense she
is telling her other friends, people she’s known much longer from the
other church experience, my business. She often takes what I say and
twist it to make me look foolish, when it’s not at all what I meant and
she knows it’s not. This church seems too cliquish, even though they
got together under the guise of wanting to minister to the hurting from
other churches they themselves cause harm. The pastor often has a “word”
for somebody that just doesn’t seem right. It usually comes across as
saying what he thinks that person wants to hear, rather than a true
word from God. I had a dream over a year ago, clearly God-given, that
said God would reveal to me the person who has been lying about me
to others, if she didn’t repent. He let me see in an outline but would
not show me her face in the dream. I think now he’s revealing to me
in bits and pieces and although I’m not yet 100% sure it’s her, I know
that she is part of whatever is going on. One of my strongest spiritual
gifts is discernment. That’s been confirmed to me by godly people.
As Christians we want to believe the best of everyone, right? We rightly
feel that if we get hurt by others it should more likely be from
someone we hardly know, but often it’s those that pretend to be our
friend that ends up being a backstabber. It’s not the first time I’ve been
betrayed by a friend in a church.
I am sorry to read this! God bless!
“The task of a life time” – I’m glad you said that because for me the lessons are very slowly and sometimes painfully learned, and many times repeated to get it into my dull senses that it is God teaching me. I can see this sometimes when reading the scriptures, especially the book of Proverbs.
There is most especially the test of flattery which causes us to drop our guard and to go right back into the toxic situation. How many times must we fail that test until we realise the problem is ours rather than ‘them’ and eventually that button doesn’t work anymore, it is no longer connected and our egos are no longer ‘on-line’.
I begin to see that becoming wise as serpents is just as much a work of sanctification as the more obvious work that the Saviour is doing in me – the call to grow (up) in Him.
Thank you for helping to make that connection.
“Becoming wise as serpents is just as much a work of sanctification”
I like how you put it. Hadn’t thought of it, but yes, as we grow into Jesus, I guess we begin to resemble him a little, and some of his wisdom rubs off on us.
Flattery is tricky, because we so want to believe it, and so, as you say, drop our guard.
Very helpful Anita. I needed to be reminded to be as wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove. Being silent in such situations and praying is excellent advice. I shall be putting it into practice.
Bless you.
Thanks so much, Lynda, and thanks for sharing too!