Continue -- 'No Calamity Will Befall Us'

The psalmist continues: " Upon the young lion and the cobra you will tread; you will trample down the maned young lion and the big snake." (Psalm 91:13) Just as the young lion makes an open, frontal attack, some of our enemies show their opposition openly by passing laws designed to stop our preaching work. But unexpected attacks like those of a cobra striking from a place of concealment are also made upon us. Hiding behind the scenes, the clergy sometimes attack us through lawmakers, judges and others. But with Jehovah's support, we peacefully seek redress in the courts, thus 'defending and legally establishing the good news..' - Philippians 1:7; Psalm 94:14, 20-22.

The psalmist speaks of trampling down "the maned young lion and the big snake." A maned young lion can be quite fierce, and a big snake can be a reptile of great size. (Isaiah 31:4) Regardless of how fierce the maned young lion may be when making a frontal attack, though, we figuratively trample on it by obeying God rather than lionlike men or organizations. (Acts 5:29) So the menacing "lion" does not cause us spiritual injury.

In the Greek Septuagint, "The big snake is called a dragon." This may well remind us of "the great dragon...,the original serpent, the one called Satan." (Revelation12:7-9; Genesis 3:15) He is like a monstrous reptile capable of crushing an swallowing its prey. (Jeremiah 51:34) When Satan is trying to wrap his coils around us, crush us with this world's pressures, and swallow us, let us shake ourselves loose and trample down this "big snake." (1Peter 5:8) The anointed remnant must do this if they are to share in the fulfillment of Romans 16:20.