(ver 1.3) A trap is the hidden trick of an enemy to take you captive or prisoner. To trap wild animals, some have used a spring like device that usually has a concealed danger with an enticing lure or some type of tempting bait.  Many times people would dig a big hole in the ground and cover it with branches and leaves so that others do not recognize the pit fall dangers as they travel in that area. People have walked down this path being unfamiliar with the danger and many have fallen into it and were caught. Whether you realize it or not, you are walking down a figurative trail in life and Satan has placed many concealed traps in your path in order to take you captive. We must learn to recognize these potential traps.  In order to do this I believe that we need to become familiar with the examples found in the Bible of what Satan has used on other people.  Only by learning and studying the devices and methods of our spiritual enemy, can we even begin to become familiar with the certain impending traps that will be presented to us.  Only when we learn to recognize the traps can we learn how to avoid them.

Job 18:10  The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

While natural traps are hidden dangers to your physical well being, spiritual traps are hidden pitfalls that are intended for your spiritual harm.  Since Satan is not physically present in this world (at least until the anti-christ is revealed) and it is illegal for him to be in physical manifestation to harm you, he has adapted and changed up his attack and trap methods.  Satan uses physical people in the world to set traps for other people.  Satan works very hard to deceive everyone, but many times he concentrates on a select few which are easier to be deceived.  These types of easy targets are usually the most ignorant of the truth found in God’s word.   Satan then traps them into believing his lies and then uses them to deceive the others through their enticing baited words of partial truths.  Let’s go through an example of this in the Bible:

Exo 23:33  They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.

Here we have a great example of the deceived people on the earth deceiving God’s people.  Many people have been deceived into believing that God has provided many religions and many paths that lead us to Him.  However, God did not EVER say this, this was only man’s reasoning based upon them buying into Satan’s deception.  Just because many religions exist in the world today does not mean that God started them, God endorses them, God accepts them or God subscribes to them.  That is just a common planned trap of the enemy.  Flood the world with the false to counter the True from God.  In this verse in Exodus God warns the Nation of Israel that these foreign gods found within the other nations they encountered would become a “snare” to them.  In other words this snare was another technique of their enemy to take them captive.  By serving their false gods, God’s people would be deceived from knowing the truth and even depart from it.  By serving the false, they would be led captive away from their true living God.  So evidently every religion is not the right way to God!  Clearly God was warning His people that these people did not know Him or His ways but were put there to be traps for them.   God was clearly revealing the methods of entrapment and this information can still be applicable to us today in the church.  Let’s take a look at another verse in Exodus:

Exo 34:12  Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

By associating with the wrong people and joining themselves together as one nation, God informs Israel that if they were not careful to avoid this, they would again become trapped into a situation that they do not want to be in.  This is again speaking of a spiritual snare, a trap that the enemy has presented them using natural people.  These people since they are not God’s covenant people would present themselves as friendly and introduce them to new ideas, concepts and things that God declares would become a trap to deceive them.  This is a spiritual principle and a method that Satan still uses today with Christians.  Become friends with the wrong people, hang around the wrong people long enough, and what they do and what they say will eventually become what you do and what you say.  The bad influences in life will always drag you down to their level and you will not be able to pull them up to your level so beware of this trap.

Let me talk about another aspect of what this verse is saying.  A covenant is a marriage in the eyes of God.  You can learn this by reading Malachi 2:14.  God reveals to us it matters who we marry.  When a Christian marries a non-Christian they usually regret it.  Many times a Christian lady will marry a man thinking he will change and go to church with her and this is usually a vast disappointment when this does not occur.  The man may even promise and say the right things right up until the wedding day, but after the wedding the bride has joined herself to an unbeliever and become deceived.   This is a common deception revealed to us in the Bible and if you learn now before you get married, you will avoid this trap.

Psa 38:12  They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.

The traps of the enemy are many times laced with enough truth and good that it appears to be something desirable.  If you wanted to kill an animal you would not throw it just poison and hope that they ate it.  No you wrap the poison in a steak, or something that is very desirable to the animal.   This is a common practice of the enemy.  They usually do not start with the blatant obvious lies, they always start with the truth and mix in a few lies here and there.  By doing this they have disguised the lies and made them harder to recognize and easier to accept.  This verse in Psalms tells us that Satan uses people to hurt people.  This could be a physical pain or an emotional pain as this verse is talking about.  By using words from one person to hurt and offend another, this is a common trap that people fall into, even in church.  It could be an intentional hurt or an unintentional hurt, but the result is often times the same.  Satan is working day and night to get to you and he will use anyone that he can to do this.  It might be your pastor or your best friend, but do not fall into the trap.  Recognize what it is and pray for them, do not confront them personally or you may be repeating the offense in a reverse attack.   Do not let Satan use you to get back at someone that did you wrong.

Psa 119:110  The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.

Here is a prevalent method of the enemy.  To try to distract you from the truth of God’s word.  All the enemy has to do is to get you interested in something else.  Cause something else to become a higher priority than God’s Word.  By distracting you, you become interested in the wrong things.  It could be movies, it could be books, it could even be doing good things like feeding the poor.  Whatever, it takes to distract you from what is suppose to be most important to you, that is what Satan will use to set a trap for you.  The Psalmist says that he stayed focus on God’s Word and did not take the bait that was presented to him.  Recognize where your priorities are right now.  Evaluate yourself and examine what you think is important.  Prioritize your life and make God and His Word number one and strive to keep Him at the top of your priority list.