Be Aware of the Devil’s Snares

Because of God’s outpouring of His Holy Spirit as a gift to us on the Day of Pentecost, we have the ability to carry out Proverbs 22:3!

One day, many years ago, my younger brother and I were out playing and thought it would be fun if we could set a trap for a bird or maybe even a squirrel. We never stopped to figure out what we’d do if we caught one, we just set about making a trap. Neither of us knew at the time that our idea was nothing new. What we had dreamed up at six and eight years old was something the devil uses on people every day…it’s  called a SNARE!  A simple but highly effective tool that’s effectiveness lies in the fact   that the prey is unaware of its existence until it’s too late to escape!  

Well, we didn’t know all that stuff back then! We just wanted to catch a bird. So we got busy implementing our idea. I don’t remember now how we procured a cardboard box. Maybe mom got it for us, but it was big enough to fulfill our requirement. Then we located a nice straight stick about eight inches long and some kite string. We made something that looked almost like the picture above. 

With the box positioned with the open top lying on the ground, we then tilted the box up on one end and placed the stick under the edge of the raised part of the box. Then we tied one end of the string to the lower end of the stick and then we carried the other end some distance away behind a tree where we would hide and wait for the unsuspecting animal. 

It was about then that we realized that we needed some bait. Every good trap must have bait! We had no idea what to use as bait to catch a bird, so we changed up and decided to try for a squirrel instead. We found some peanuts at home and put them in a neat little pile under the box. I really don’t remember what we planned to do if we had caught one, but something tells me now it’s a good thing we came up empty handed that day. 

Because a snare’s effectiveness depends on the prey not knowing it exists, our adversary, the devil, exploits this quite effectively to ensnare people. God lovingly makes us aware of this truth in Ecclesiastes.

The devil is the unrivaled master in the use of a snare. In fact, he pretty much uses one whenever he wants to! But we can spoil his plans so that he comes up just as empty handed as my brother and I did. The first step…you guessed it…. is to make sure you are aware of the snare!!

You’ve just been made aware of the snare!! Everyday unsuspecting people are taken captive at the devil’s will. That is a disconcerting thought, but it’s absolutely true! We just read it straight from the Bible! God doesn’t want us to be ignorant of the devil’s methods because He doesn’t want us to get trapped. 

Is there anything we can do to stop it? The short answer is NO!! There is nothing any of us can do to change the devil’s mind...nor can we make him stop setting traps for us at his own desire! It’s part of his nature. There is GOOD NEWS though! We can change our behavior instead and become aware of the snare in time to avoid it. It’s really that simple!  

God has equipped each and every born again believer with pure unadulterated spiritual power to beat the adversary at his own game. 

God has graciously, lovingly and mercifully given us everything that pertains to life and godliness and that literally means we have EVERYTHING we could possibly EVER need to win in the competition of life!!! We can absolutely be aware of every snare and then take necessary steps to avoid it.

One common snare that man repeatedly falls into is the temptation to acquire worldly wealth. This, my friends, is a great big snare and God tells us this.

The desire to be rich and affluent, to have moolah, bread, dinero, scratch, mazuma or money, just for the sake of being rich, will carry along with it certain consequences because it is a snare, a trap, a hidden means to enslave the unwary.

God tells us that the fear, or respect we have for Him is a fountain of life and it will allow us to depart, or escape the snares that the devil is always putting in our path in hopes that we won’t be aware of them and he will have his way with us.

Yes, my brother and I thought we were pretty crafty in setting up our little trap but the squirrels and birds saw it for what it was......A SNARE!!!