THE SNARE/TRAP
Today’s Reading: Psalms 140-142
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
This is the Parliament House in Athens, Greece. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located at the bottom of a high wall surrounding the Parliament Building. On this wall is a relief that depicts a fallen soldier which is surrounded by quotations from Pericles’ funeral oration. Two sentry boxes on either side of the tomb have small canopies to protect the guards against the sun. Psalm 141:3 is a prayer for God to “Set a guard over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips.” This prayer should be prayed by all politicians and in our case at Crossroads, all who seek to communicate God’s thoughts expressed in His Word by the use of all forms of media.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verses: Psalm 141:3, 9
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
Keep watch over the door of my lips.
…Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,
And from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
Common to all three Psalms in today’s reading is David’s recognition that snares have been laid to trap him with wickedness, iniquity, and isolation. In each of his compositions we learn that David turned to God for protection and deliverance! When we pray and ask God for His intervention in our lives, God says, “Yes!” A New Testament reading which confirms God’s answer to the prayers of our key verses is 1 Corinthians 10:11-13. God promised us a way of escape from every trap or snare that has the potential to destroy us (and He cannot lie). God, Paul declares, will “MAKE THE WAY OF ESCAPE!” God has shown us the escape plan, but it’s up to us to run for it! Our escape from the snares of the world, the flesh, and the devil is the CROSS OF CHRIST! For believers in Jesus, His Name stands for all He is and does. Proverbs 18:10 says, “The Name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.” Amen!!
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I pray the words of the key verses: “Set a guard…over my mouth;… over the door of my lips…keep me from the snares…and from the traps.” As Psalm 142:5 says, “I cried out to you, O Lord…” I do that now! I confess, “You are my Refuge!” I pray this in the Name of my Strong Tower, the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
On November 11th in Canada, we’re remembering those who gave their lives for our freedom. Because of this freedom, Brit Hume, a former White House correspondent for ABC News, on live worldwide TV, looked into the camera and spoke directly to golfer Tiger Woods, who had messed up his life badly, and said, approximately, “Tiger, you need Jesus!” God surely caused Brit to speak boldly and wisely. For decades on the 100 Huntley Street daily telecast, I never went on air without praying, “God, please put a watch (or guard) over my mouth!”
Yours to be on guard, protecting each of us from all the snares and traps that sin, self, the devil, and other people may set for us!!!
David
P.S. Here is an interview with Brit Hume from the Christianity Today magazine.
Thank You for the Psalms, Lord. Hear our cries, we ask in Jesus’s name
From the end of Psalm 142:
“I cried out to You, O Lord:
I said, “You are my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living.
Attend to my cry,
For I am brought very low;
Deliver me from my persecutors,
For they are stronger than I.
Bring my soul out of prison,
That I may praise Your name;
The righteous shall surround me,
For You shall deal bountifully with me.”
Read a good quote from Edward Mote this a.m.:
When darkness seems to hide his face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the vale.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
God is with us always.
So true, Lynda! All other ground is sinking sand. Blessings all.
Amen to the comments above.
Today I definitely need Christ, the solid rock as my family seems to be on sinking sand. Satan is really fighting to pull them his way. Please pray for and with me that God will turn them around and bring them home.
Thanks so much