Traps

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8

The Venus Fly Trap is a plant that is carnivorous, that is it devours insects because it needs the nutrients from the insects to compensate for the poor soil it generally lives in.  Their claw-like leaves lay open until an unsuspecting insect alights and suddenly the leaf closes and the insect is history.

Today three of my devotional readings referred to 'traps'.  It was significant as there is no theme to the readings and they were from various books; 1 Kings 13, Proverbs 7:22-23 and Matthew 22:23-33 (take time to read them for yourself).  I thought it would be a good topic to look at.  I was reminded afresh that the enemy of our souls, Satan, is always on the lookout for a chance to trap us, and we are never too old to be caught out.

The reading in 1 Kings 13 is particularly sad because an unnamed prophet of God brings a very significant word from God to King Jeroboam and it is confirmed by 2 miraculous signs.  The prophet from Judah was on assignment from God who gave him very specific instructions that he was to go give the word, return home a different way and not to eat or drink anything until he got home. An old local prophet heard about this and went out after the prophet from Judah and enticed him to come home and eat and drink with him saying, "I am a prophet too, just as you are.  And an angel gave me this message from the Lord: 'Bring him home with you, and give him food to eat and water to drink.' But the old man was lying."(vs 18)

Sadly the younger prophet was not alert to the devil's tactics.  This was surely a trap.  How the old prophet could have lied to him is another story, but the enemy can and does use other believers to entrap us sometimes.  In Galatians 1:9 Paul was addressing the fact that the Galatians had been persuaded by believers to again put themselves under the Law from which Christ has set us free.  He told them that even though an angel bring another gospel, they should not believe it.  He did not want to see them fall into the trap of trying to earn their salvation by keeping the Law, when Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of the Law and faith in Him alone is what brings us salvation. 

Hebrews 5:14 speaks about believers who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. If we want to avoid the traps of the devil we must fill our hearts and minds with God's word so that we understand, and readily obey His ways, and so that we can discern when a trap is being set for us.  Psalm 119:110 says this, "The wicked have set their traps for me, but I will not turn from your commandments. "  We need to stay with the word of God and not be side-tracked or side-lined.  Train yourself in the word and trust your discernment.  By all means remain open and teachable but not gullible.  Lazy Christians will not make time and effort to check out the word of God for themselves.  The people of Berea were commended because after they listened to Paul and Silas preach they searched the scriptures daily to see if they were teaching the truth (Acts 17:11). Staying strong in God's word will keep us out of Satan's traps. Let's be diligent so that we do not become deceived.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, thank you for your example of quoting the truth of the scriptures to Satan during your temptation in the wilderness and then to those along the way who sought to trap you.  Help me to be diligent in studying your word and being alert to the enemy's schemes. Amen