When Moses threw down his rod, it became a serpent. He fled from it, but God demanded (Ex. 4:4), "Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail."
Writing of this experience, our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 321): "In this incident was seen the actuality of Science. Matter was shown to be a belief only. The serpent, evil, under wisdom's bidding, was destroyed through understanding divine Science, and this proof was a staff upon which to lean. The illusion of Moses lost its power to alarm him, when he discovered that what he apparently saw was really but a phase of mortal belief."
Moses' fear was great, but his faith in God was greater. Moses had to prove his trust and confidence in God by grasping the serpent by the tail, although to human sense this put him in great jeopardy. But his years of communion with God in the wilderness had taught him obedience and strengthened his faith. Obedient to the divine demand, he turned and took the serpent by the tail. Mortal belief, weaving its serpentine way into human consciousness, whispers its lies of fear regarding all that touches one's experience. Fear feeds on ignorance; divine understanding dispels this ignorance. Fear exalts itself; God, Principle, dethrones it. Fear enslaves; Love liberates. Fear beclouds the vision; Truth floodlights the way, and the still small voice bids us "take it by the tail," handle every phase of error's falsity, reverse and reject its every spurious claim.
