Beware of the Snare
Psalms 91:1-3 – “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” “ Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.” KJV
Psalms 91:3 – “For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper, And from the deadly pestilence.” New American Standard
Psalms 91:3 – “For he rescues you from every trap and protects you from the fatal plague.” Living Bible
l. INTRODUCTION – MY FISHING EXPERIENCE
It had to be more than ten years ago, when I was invited along on a fishing expedition, if it could be called such. Bro. TM and Mr. WC invited me in the middle of winter, I think sometime in January to do a little “night fishing” as they called it.
I arrived at Madrid armed with a large cannister of hot chocolate about nine or ten o’clock on night and we climbed into Mr. C’s pick-up and headed out. We rode down several little farm roads and after about twenty minutes or so, I was lost as a hoot owl. Finally, we turned off on a dirt road and followed this for what seemed to be four or five miles and then turned into a tractor trail and begin to creep along the bumps in the ruts. We went for a mile or so and Mr. C then leaned over and turned off his lights and then we went on for another mile or so. I asked him why he had turned his lights off and he just grunted something about not being seen. I should have known then that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We went on and finally he stopped. It was pitch black. I asked what we were stopping for and they told me that we needed to get into the lake. Bro. M got out and with the assistance of a flashlight opened up a large gate and the truck creeped through it and then he locked the gate and got back in again. It was freezing cold outside. The temperature was in the single digits and the wind was blowing hard enough to “bust the bark” as they say.
We pulled up a little while later to a body of water, I have no idea where it is even now, nor how big or small that it really is. Bro. M and I off loaded a john boat from the back of the truck and got the paddles out and slowly walked down to the water, being as quiet as possible. Mr. C was rigging up a miner’s lamp on his head while we were doing this. We also got two long three-pronged gigs and loaded them into the boat.
We backed the boat out into the water and started “fishing” as I had never been accustomed to. There were no rods, reels, hooks, worms, just lights and gigs. The object was to shine a light on the fish in the water and then gig them. I asked them how that we were going to gig them before they moved and Mr. C said something about them being too cold to move. I thought to myself, well, the fishing won’t be worth much tonight because I am too cold to move too!
Another thought lurked in the deep recesses of mind: what if we get out here in this boat and the game warden comes around or worse yet whoever owns this land comes out here and gets fishing and hunting mixed up. What if he decides to hunt us while we are fishing? This could indeed lead to a bad outcome.
I could see fish all in the water but they looked dead because they weren’t moving. Suddenly Mr. C saw two of the biggest bass that I have ever seen in my life just sort of sitting there in the water. We back the boat up and he zings out the gig and nabs one of them. Suddenly everything goes from calm to chaos. We are in the chase. Suddenly we become desperate fisherman, along with Captain Ahab trying to take down a huge whale on the high seas. The bass wounded zips around the front of the boat and starts skimming the water toward the rear of the boat. Bro. Mullen leans out of the boat and whaps the fish in the head but in the process of doing so the boat tips wildly and we almost turn over.
Bro. M does the right thing to keep the boat upright. He goes into the water and Mr. C and myself remain in the boat. I yell loudly, “Man overboard!” But then I realize that we are only in three feet of water and even though it might be man overboard, the water is not over his head. But what is chilling indeed is the temperature of the water and the temperature of the air. Amazingly, Bro. M turns from white to blue. Hands blue, face blue, and lips blue, he can hardly talk because of the chattering of his teeth.
Meanwhile in the wild production of all of this, the water has also got into the boat and before it is over with our clothes have gotten wet. It was so cold that when I leaned up against the truck, I probably was there no longer than two minutes and my clothes froze to the side of the truck.
-I suppose that some fishers and hunters are more successful than that. Some are extremely smart and always find their game. That is what I would like to preach about, “Beware of the Snare.”
ll. PSALM 91
-Our text that we read is but a small portion of one of my favorite areas of Scripture. It defines what God does for those who are entrusted to His care.
-As we look at Psalm 91, commentators and scholars of the Bible are uncertain as to whom the writer of this particular Psalm really is. Some would hold that it was Moses who wrote this Psalm and that the fowler is the king of Egypt who sought to slay him, or the Amalekites who pounced on Israel and smote them in battle (Numbers 13-14).
-Other scholars believe that David was the writer of this Psalm and that the details surrounding his writing was when he was fleeing from Saul and that he was the fowler pursuing David. David even mentioned that he was like a partridge being pursued in the mountains (1 Sam. 26:20).
-However, the identity of the writer does not really matter in this case. The Psalmist was not meaning for this particular chapter to be of a private interpretation but applicable in the lives of all of God’s people.
-Whether one wants to admit it or not, there is an enemy of all of our souls and he is constantly seeking to overcome and devour men. This enemy is like a hunter, a trapper, one who seeks after the prey.
-When one looks at this segment of Scripture, the writer alerted the reader to the demeanor of the snare, the deliverance from the snare, and the security of escape from the snare.
A. The Actions of the Hunter
-The hunter is a all-around different sort of breed.
They are willing to brave extremely early mornings (2:00 to 4:00 AM of a time usually when I am in a near comatose state).
They sit in high trees on things called “stands” for what I reason I am unsure of (it seems to me that they ought to call them “sits” instead of “stands”).
These “stands” are 20 to 40 feet off of the ground and they sway in the cold morning air, sometimes the air is 10 to 30 degrees. Imagine forsaking a bed for such a “wonderful and good” time such as hunting.
-But despite the fact that this activity may place the hunter in the category of insanity, hunters are actually quite smart. He will track his prey. He does so by keeping his distance from the prey, he studies him, and he takes note of the behavior patterns of the animal he seeks to kill.
When the animal walks into the stand of trees, how far in does he go?
When the animal wanders out into the open, or on a ridge, does he slow down or pick up his pace?
What times does the deer come to drink from the creek?
Which direction does he go when he leaves this creek?
Where is the best place to set the sights to shoot him?
What kind of weapon and what kind of shells should be used?
-The hunter cannot read the mind of his prey, but by studying his behavior, one learns to anticipate his next move. To figure out what he is thinking, watch his movements, then when the vulnerabilities are discovered, move in for the kill.
-The hunter who learns to think like his prey can predict his direction and lure him into the open and ultimately destroy him. The hunter must remain absolutely patient in his art and yet aggressively vigilant in what he is attempting to accomplish. He is willing to endure some temporary discomfort to bag the big-game.
B. The Snare
-There are some things that occur when the hunter sets out to take care of the snare.
1. It’s Setting is Connected with Utmost Secrecy.
-The first thing that occurs with the snare is that it is set up in absolute secrecy. The hunter carefully covers the trap because a trap sitting uncovered will be immediately noticed by the prey.
-So in the placing of the snare, the hunter carefully places some traces of food about the snare. He does so in such a manner that the prey has no idea that the food laid there seemingly for his own enjoyment is actually there to entice and finally destroy him.
-I am told that duck hunters will take tufts of wild grass and hold it in front of their mouths so the natural odors of their breath will not betray them to the ducks.
-The enemy who plants the temptations in the path of the man of God does so in utmost secrecy. The man who is a sinner goes into his sins with his eyes wide open and knows exactly what he is doing. He runs into the trap, he knows that it is a trap, he reaches out with both hands even though he is aware that destruction is staring him in the face.
-But the man who is attempting to live a life of godliness and righteousness therefore the trap must be formed in secrecy.
-Some men say, “If I thought that so-and-so were wrong; if I was perfectly convinced that it was wrong, then I would not do it.” That is exactly where the difficulty lies. Basically the words are these: “If I thought it was a trap that was laid by the devil; if I was perfectly convinced that it was sin, the I would not do it.”
-Sometimes people ask me, “Is this wrong. . . . . .Is that wrong?” When I tell them that I would think that it is, I am accused of “legalism” and “rule-tending” but what some call “legalism” and “rule-tending” God calls holiness.
-You cannot keep godliness intact if you are pursuing the pleasures of this world. You must either serve God or serve Baal. No man can have two masters.
-Many a soul has been entrapped in sin not really knowing the magnitude of evil that was about to embrace their soul.
-In the setting of the trap, others say to us, “You can very safely do this thing. Everyone else is doing it. It is not actually what you would consider sin. But I would not tell the pastor, or my parents, or my friends that I am involved in this.” So it is, with a little easing here and there, we shut our eyes just a little, close our hearts a little, and soon enough we are led to discover that such an act has taken us into the snare of the fowler.
-If the devil shows up at my door with his horns showing and in a cloud of smoke, I will never let him in. But if he comes to me as a well-dressed gentleman, then I am apt to listen to what he has to say.
-Many hunted men have found themselves taken in by the trap because it was varnished and glossed over and not apparently evil. Sometimes people indignantly ask:
Pastor, how can this be sin?
Mom, how can I be led astray by going to this place?
Dad, how in the world can I find myself sinking by the associations with this person?
Friend, who can you classify this as being wrong?
-It perhaps could be because your pastor’s eyes, or your mother’s intuition, or your father’s heart, or your friend’s mind is patently more spiritual than what yours has become. Your senses have become dulled by the secrecy of the trap.
-Take care of your soul by prayer, fasting, reading your Book, coming to church, listening to the voice of a pastor, and associating your life when the fellowship of the believers.
2. The Snare is Very Flexible.
-The second thing that you must understand about he snare is that it is very flexible. No hunter will take a duck call with him when he is hunting deer. No man will take a goose bellow with him when he is fishing.
-The hunter knows his game and is willing be flexible with his snares. Satan is the same way.
One he will attempt with take down with drunkenness.
One he will attempt to destroy with surfeiting and partying.
Another he will attempt to destroy with lust.
If he cannot get him with lust, he will try to lavish him to death with pride.
If a man is a thinker, he will try to destroy him with depression or criticism of others.
If a man enjoys the easy life, he will try laziness, because pride will not work. He will bait him into sitting still, folding his arms, and perishing in his own slothfulness.
-It does not matter how the trapper gets his prey, just so he gets him. If a man will sit still long enough in a snowstorm, he will freeze to death. This death is just as effective to the enemy as the one who falls with the arrow through his heart.
He will attempt to get us to condemn something in others that we hold and harbor in our own lives.
Another he will not be able to tempt him toward pride so he will enchant him toward the pride of generosity and we will be tempted to boast of our kindness toward others.
We are blessed but he will not tempt us with the pride of our blessings but rather he will try to turn us into harsh bosses of those under us. Harsh fathers, harsh husbands, and sometimes even harsh pastors.
-Do not fall to the trap of the enemy. He is possessed with an incredible intellect, he is been hunting now for 6000 years. He works to discover the sore places in our lives and it is there that he immediately attacks us.
-If we are like Achilles and cannot be wounded anywhere but our heel, then at the heel he will try to sink his dart.
He cannot entice you to get into a jet and fly it into the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, all he has to do is turn you into a liar.
He cannot turn you into a murderer, all he has to do is find the besetting sin and it is there that he seeks your destruction.
3. The Snare is frequently associated with Pleasure, Profit, and Advantage.
-It is the salt lick that entices the deer to come to an open area. It is the scattered peanuts about the ground that bring the doves in. It is the planting of the peas in the fall that bring the prey to their death.
-The snare is frequently associated with pleasure and profit.
-People will say, “I cannot give up my relationship with sin pleasant.” “If you just knew how much pleasure comes to me with pursuing this thing, you could never ask me to let go of it.”
-That sums up the work of the hunter: It is the sweetness of the trap and makes it more dangerous. The devil will never sell his poison as it is, he whitewashes it. He knows that men will take it without a thought if he will sugarcoat it.
-Take care of the pleasures of this life. Many of them are innocent but there are many of them that are destructive.
In the deserts where some of the most beautiful cactus plants grow, there are harbored some of the most venomous desert rattlers.
In the rain forests that is home to some of the most lush green scenery, there lurks some of the deadliest serpents known to man.
-So it is with sin. Some of the most fairest of pleasures will harbor the most gross of all sin.
Cleopatra’s cobra was introduced in a basket of flowers to her, so our sins are frequently given to us in the flowers of our pleasures.
Satan offers the drunk the sweetness of the intoxicating cup and reduces him to a miserable failure.
Satan offers the lustful man the scenes and pleasures of carnal mirth and then slays him with the arrow through the liver.
-Job was more careful over his sons in their feasting than he was during their adversity. Adversity destroys very few, but prosperity destroys its thousands.
4. The Snare is sometimes used in tandem with a Decoy.
-Every one of us has understood the ability of the decoy duck to entice ducks to a pond so they can fill the bag of the hunter.
-Satan frequently employs such a tactic. He would never be able to take a sinner and entice men who are professing Christians.
-BUT, let him get you with someone you admire. You think of this man as one with a high-calling, you think of this man as one of character. No one knows the Word like he does. No one prays like he does. No one is more committed than he is. He can talk religion by the yard and can give you any theology that you desire to know.
-But you see him commit a sin, chances are ten to one that you will follow him on.
-The devil is very careful in the decoys that he chooses. He cannot use wicked men for they would have little if any effect on the twice-born man. No this is too easy. . . . .He will use someone who looks to be on the same standing as what you are.
-If wants his errand well done then he will send to me one whom I call “brother” because I am more apt to listen to his words. The force of his example is very powerful to me.
-Take care of your friends and be careful of your companions. Choose the best you can and then follow them no further than what they follow Christ. Let your course of life be entirely independent of everyone else. Say with Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
5. The Fowler may send a hawk after his prey.
-The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia has this to say about he fowler:
There was also a practice of sewing a captured bird’s eyelids together and confining it so that its cries would call large numbers of birds through curiosity and they could then be taken in the several ways mentioned. The fowlers supplied the demand for doves and other birds used for caged pets, and furnished the market with wild pigeons and doves for sacrifice and such small birds as were used for food. (from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by Biblesoft)
-In addition to this act, the fowler would sometimes have falcons or hawks that would be used to capture the birds they were attempting to catch. The hawk would be sent into the air to bring down the prey.
-If the devil cannot ruin a man by getting him involved in sin, he tries to bring him down with slander of name.
-One man who had been faithful to God in service for all of his life, in his waning years, found himself at the brunt of the hate of another man. The basis for the man’s hate was that he hated the truth in the life of this man. Yet the godly man allowed himself to get so caught up in his own defense that he spent all of his time trying to defend himself against the wicked attack.
-Most often the wisest thing to do in the face of slander and gossip is to ignore. Over the course of time, people will come to see that the words are false.
-But if the snare does not work, then the devil wants to get men so caught up with defending and fighting and pursuing and quarreling until there is no time for the productive things of the Kingdom.
-David ignored the loud braying of Shimei even though the sons of Zeruiah wanted him to pursue the slanderer and destroy him.
-All will end well if our character remains clean. The more dirt that is thrown in our direction will only make us shine the more when time reveals the inner workings and motives of the heart.
lll. CONCLUSION – THE DELIVERANCE
-But just as bad as the snares may be. . . . . . there is something that is greater and that is the deliverance that people of God can be assured of.
1 Corinthians 10:13 – “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
2 Timothy 4:17_18 – “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
2 Peter 2:9 – “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:”
Romans 8:35_39 – “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,” “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Philip Harrelson
barnabas14@juno.com
barnabas14@yahoo.com
