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"The Great Escape"‘Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler: the snare is broken, and we are escaped’ (Psalm 124:7) This verse describes what we can definitely call ‘The Great Escape’! The previous six verses describe in detail just how this great escape was accomplished, from what the great escape was made, and who was responsible for bringing it to pass. When we are ‘trapped’ in a besetting sin, something that is a repeat offender, like pride or egotism, which is the result of embedded pride, or impulsive fits of anger, or the haunting reruns of sexual sins, all of which are carefully orchestrated by Satan and his demonic emissaries, and are able to escape these soul entangling sins, we must recognize that the Lord has once again shown His favor through His mercy by bringing about ‘The Great Escape’! In Psalm 124 Israel’s physical deliverance from their physical enemies, mirrors our spiritual deliverance from the enemies of our soul. ‘If it had not been the LORD Who was on our side…then the waters had overwhelmed us’ (v.4). This statement describes the mighty surge of sinful temptations the devil throws at the saint whose heart is fixed on serving God. He knows from past history what it will take to bring us down and therefore is capable of assaulting us in those very vulnerable areas of our soul. Remember, the devil and his demons have as their primary target those who have decided to follow Jesus. Yes, he attacks those who have made it the focus of their lives to live for Christ! The weak, struggling Christian, who ignores the Word of God and it’s armor of protection, is not who Satan considers his foe. No, he focuses his attack on those who have overcome the world and the flesh and have entered into the spiritual warfare for the souls of men and therefore become the main enemy of the powers of darkness. Those whose light is dispelling the darkness through the word of their testimony and the precious Word of God that they sow as they witness for Christ are the main focus of the devil and his principalities and powers! These are they who must be silenced at all costs, and so the intensity of the battle grows as the witness sows the supernatural seed of the Word of God, whether it be sown into his own soul for strength and victory over sin, or sown into the souls of others as the Word is proclaimed publicly when he makes it his business to ‘go and bring forth fruit’ in the area God has given him to exercise the authority of Christ and His Word! Verse five of this powerful Psalm pinpoints the primary source of the majority of sinful actions on the part of those who fall into this vicious trap: ‘Then the PROUD waters had gone over our soul.’ PRIDE is the most common and the most devastating sin in the devil’s arsenal of weapons. It is what brought him down, and it will continue to bring down those who serve the Lord in positions of authority if they are not careful to ‘put on the whole armor of God’! You see, the devil himself was in a high position of authority in heaven and he allowed the deceiving and destructive sin of pride to bring him down, so we should not be surprised if we as lowly men and women fall into the trap that he sets in order to cause us also to become ‘the enemies’ of God! The ‘snare of the devil’ is mentioned in I Timothy 3:6, and there ‘pride’ is the specific cause of trapping the inexperienced novice. This trap which is supernaturally set by the devil not only traps but pride also holds us in bondage and continues to render us spiritually powerless. We become detractors of the Lord’s cause when we boast of our accomplishments, our insights, our witnessing prowess etc. etc. etc. I, me and my become the primary words of every discussion we become involved in and those around us can easily detect this selfish mentality.
But, there is hope, (v.6,7) say: While sulking the other day about some nonsensical but defeating issue, my wife reminded me of the continued blessing of the Lord in giving me opportunities and the desire to witness in spite of the temporal discouraging circumstances we find ourselves wallowing in at the moment. There are those whom the Lord has not yet seen fit to release from this sin of pride through ‘The Great Escape’. David describes in this blessed Psalm, and some that He has brought into my path recently for the very purpose of illustrating this fact. He has bestowed upon me this great blessing, providing the only way out of this sin of pride. It is His merciful release, ‘the snare is broken, and we are escaped’! Praise Him for His great love that He demonstrates daily to His own through His mercy and deliverance from the power of Satan’s most deceptive and debilitating trap of pride. |