Sidestepping the Snare

Psalm 119:105-112

Verses 109-110 Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget Your law. The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from Your precepts.

We talked yesterday about the psalmist’s understanding that his struggles were temporal which led him to praise and today we see that while he was still feeling the stress of his struggles he wasn’t giving up on the law.

We mentioned yesterday that we don’t know what the specific struggles were that the psalmist was dealing with but it seems that whatever they were, the man of song felt like he was in a possible life-threatening type of situation. Yet he doesn’t seem to be as concerned about the struggles, as he is about the law.

One thing is obvious with this song writer, he wants the ways of the Lord to be more important to him than anything that is going on in this world, including the troubles that come his way. By putting the ways of the Lord constantly in front of him, he is setting his focus on God Himself. That is after all the most important thing we can do.

When God is our main focus we will find that even our struggles will come into their proper focus. The things that fight for our attention will not seem as distracting when we come to know the joy of having Him as our main desire. The more we come to know Him and His ways, the more we will understand how the things going on around us don’t really matter that much.

Others may try to set up a snare for us. They may know our weaknesses and get a plan together to try to cause us spiritual stress, but if we know what the psalmist knew, we will see that the key to missing the snare is walking the paths that the Lord lays before us. By using His word and law as the light to guide us, we can see when the trap has been set. Through the Spirit we can have the needed discernment because He shows us how stepping along the way of the law keeps us from getting caught in the traps. We must keep our focus on the Lord.

Making It Personal

Have you found yourself struggling to keep your eyes on the Word? What kind of traps easily snare you? How well do those traps fit your weaknesses?

Making It Personal Kids

How does knowing the Bible help you keep from falling into the sins that tempt you? What is a trap you always fall for? How can knowing your weakness keep you from falling into them?

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for helping us know how to follow You. Give us the wisdom to always seek Your ways and follow You in all things. In Jesus’ name, amen.