{"id":579,"date":"2016-10-31T10:50:12","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T15:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=579"},"modified":"2017-01-19T20:41:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T02:41:51","slug":"venom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=579","title":{"rendered":"Venom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your lips, O my spouse,<\/em>
\n Drip as the honeycomb;<\/em>
\n Honey and milk are under your tongue;<\/em>
\n And the fragrance of your garments<\/em>
\n Is like the fragrance of Lebanon.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Song of Songs 4:11<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s a cartoon\u00a0that\u00a0appeared in the New Yorker, a drawing of two men seated, one behind and the other in front of a broad empty desk. Perched on the shoulder of the man behind the desk – like a pet – is a large, scary bird-like creature with horns and\u00a0spikes. It even has fangs that jut down from its beak. The demonic bird has\u00a0its menacing eyes fixed\u00a0on the man sitting in front of the desk, while the man on whose shoulder it sits says, “One day I just reached deep down inside myself and there he was.” You\u00a0can’t help thinking that whatever purpose the man in front of the desk is there for, he would do well\u00a0to forget it and run. The creature looks eager\u00a0to give him a nasty bite at the slightest provocation.<\/p>\n

The cartoonist played on a primal human fear, the fear that our worst behaviors might not originate entirely<\/em>\u00a0with us, and that venom, the kind one can’t see or measure in a beaker, might<\/em> come\u00a0from something<\/em>\u00a0rather than just appearing, spontaneous and Freudian. Whether we believe in venomous beings or not, we can’t deny that some of us are brought low by toxic thoughts and emotions. We can’t deny that some of us seem to be shot through with poison, even so eaten up with it that our minds and souls are dying and gangrenous. There are a lot of poisoned people walking around. They snarl and snap and sometimes really sink\u00a0their teeth into others, thereby\u00a0passing on\u00a0the torment they have suffered. In my experience that’s a problem that calls for a stronger cure than Thorazine and Librium.<\/p>\n

Christ told\u00a0his disciples, “These signs will follow those who believe…they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” (Mark 16:17-18) Maybe\u00a0he was not\u00a0only<\/em>\u00a0talking about copperheads and arsenic. Jesus believed he came to save the world, and he believed he accomplished his purpose at\u00a0Calvary, an event\u00a0the son of man himself compared to Moses lifting a bronze serpent on a post (John 3:14). Whoever looked on that ancient serpent was saved from the fiery bites of snakes that had been loosed by sin (Numbers 21:6-9), and who among us is without sin? Jesus believed\u00a0the blood he spilled at Calvary\u00a0was the remedy for all of life’s ills. A lot of us see it the same way.<\/p>\n

It’s been almost half a century since\u00a0Andra\u00e9 Crouch recorded “The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power,” but the song, like the blood, is undiminished by time.<\/p>\n

The blood that Jesus shed for me, <\/em>
\nWay back on Calvary; <\/em>
\nThe blood that gives me strength<\/em>
\nFrom day to day, <\/em>
\nIt will never lose it’s power.<\/em><\/p>\n

It soothes my doubts and calms my fears, <\/em>
\nAnd it dries all my tears; <\/em>
\nThe blood that gives me strength<\/em>
\nFrom day to day, <\/em>
\nIt will never lose it’s power.<\/em><\/p>\n

It reaches to the highest mountain, <\/em>
\nIt flows to the lowest valley; <\/em>
\nThe blood that gives me strength<\/em>
\nFrom day to day, <\/em>
\nIt will never lose it’s power.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank God there is no bitterness that cannot be made sweet.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 MK Simonds<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your tongue; And the fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance of Lebanon. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Song of Songs … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s8Mo02-venom","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":392,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=392","url_meta":{"origin":579,"position":0},"title":"Altars and Ambition","author":"lsimonds","date":"July 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cAs for man, his days are like grass; as the flower of the field, so he flourishes. 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Some friends and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2013"","block_context":{"text":"2013","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":734,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=734","url_meta":{"origin":579,"position":3},"title":"Pray Without Ceasing","author":"lsimonds","date":"January 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit, and that his bread should not fail.\" Isaiah 51:14 I've had a few recurring dreams. One in particular is very disturbing, and I'm always relieved to wake up from it. It may sound\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2017"","block_context":{"text":"2017","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=17"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":276,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=276","url_meta":{"origin":579,"position":4},"title":"Mistaken Identity","author":"lsimonds","date":"March 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2013"","block_context":{"text":"2013","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1621,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=1621","url_meta":{"origin":579,"position":5},"title":"Whose Side Are You On?","author":"lsimonds","date":"September 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\"And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth...\" Acts 17:26 NKJV College football started this Labor Day weekend, and I watched the Arkansas Razorbacks battle the Rice Owls. 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