When Scorpions Attack

And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions.  Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.  --Ezekiel 2:6

I have a desk calendar that shows random facts day by day.  Some of them are fun-facts, some are dull.  Every once in awhile, I see one that gets my mind to wandering.  This week there was one such entry.  "When a scorpion attacks, it leaves behind its stinger, tail, and anus.  As a consequence, they will eventually fill up with (their own excrement), explode, and die (usually within about 8 months)."

I have been told (although I have no first-hand experience) that a scorpion sting is quite painful.  Sometimes it can be lethal.  As a result, I have been programmed to avoid scorpions at all costs.  I will rarely (if ever) go to their natural habitat, but if I do, I will be diligent and keep a sharp eye out for them.

I do remember once when I was quite young, we lived in a rural area of Texas, and somehow scorpions were able to get in the house.  I was brushing my teeth one morning, and in the wall fixture that held my toothbrush there was a cup-holder.  It was not a covered cup dispenser, but a round hole large enough to place a plastic cup.  Of course it was right-side up, with no cover.  So anyway, as I was brushing my teeth, I absent-mindedly reached for the plastic cup and filled it with water from the tap, so that I could rinse out my mouth.  When I poured out the unused portion of the water, a small scorpion sloshed out of the cup and into the sink.  Startled, I crushed its head with the cup, then took a tissue and, careful not to touch the stinger, picked it up gingerly and flushed it down the toilet.

In any case, scorpions are dangerous, and in some cases can be found where they are not expected and are unwelcome.

People can be like scorpions.  They can sting you with their words, and their remarks can be quite painful.  There used to be an adage quoted by young students, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me."  A useful phrase if you are trying to build your child's self esteem, but quite untrue.  Words can hurt, and with the rise of bullying and juvenile suicides, sometimes the words can be lethal.

I thought of the Apostle Paul when I read the calendar entry.  You may remember that Paul had what he called "a thorn in the flesh", for which he prayed God's deliverance on at least three occasions.  Paul wrote that God did not remove the thorn, but reminded him that "my grace is sufficient for you."  Much discussion has gone on about what exactly Paul's thorn was.  Many think that it was a physical ailment, such as poor eyesight.  However, some theologians say that "thorn in the flesh" was a euphemism for people who would follow him around and hurl insults at him.  Their verbal jabs must have been piercing, or at the very least distracting to his message.  If I had a call from God to travel as a missionary from town to town, establishing churches in each new city where Christ had never been preached before, then I would expect God to "make straight my path", so to speak.  It would be hurtful to have Pharisees and Judaizers come behind me and undercut the message that God had given me.

If it could happen to Paul, one of the most brilliant theologians of all time and author to over one-third of the New Testament, how much more could it happen to you or me?

As I was researching this topic, I found a definition attributed to Strong's as found in blueletterbible.com that the Greek word skorpios, from which we get the English word "scorpion", may have come from a root word skerpo, an obsolete word that is also the basis of the word skopos, meaning an observer or skeptic.  It means to spy, or to peer intently (perhaps piercingly).

So, when you find yourself proclaiming truth, especially God' truth, there will be those who try to poke holes in your message.  They will observe you, find what they think is a weakness, and pierce your message with stinging words.  Their criticisms may be paralyzing, but please do not let them be deadly to your testimony.  We must keep on proclaiming the gospel until Christ returns, although we may have to use His Word and the testimony of others as balm to heal our pain (see Revelation 12:11).

Bear in mind also that, like the scorpion, those who leave their stinger in you are also on a path of destruction unto themselves.  Their death will not be instantaneous, but over time their foul excrement will accumulate within them, so that they themselves cannot survive.  Their message is, in fact, lethal; not to us, necessarily, but to themselves surely.

In the 9th chapter of the book of Revelation, John foresaw a time when Satan (the star fallen from heaven) would be given the key to the bottomless pit.  When opened, flying insects like scorpions would be released.  Those creatures will have the mission to attack those without the Seal of God on their forehead.  "They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails." (verse 10).  The torment will be such that those who do not know Christ "will seek death and will not find it.  They will long to die, but death will flee from them." (verse 6).

We must continue to tell the truth of the gospel of God, because it will bring hope to the hopeless.  We must ignore those who would try to stop our message, for their god is the devil, the father of lies.  Their message may be appealing, but it is excrement, and its accumulation will kill them.