Peanut Butter and Traps

          Everyone looks for the “better” mousetrap. We used the old wooden type with a delicate spring that if you were not careful, would snap your finger before you placed it on the floor. A good dab of peanut butter always seemed to work to entice the mouse to lick it and then to meet its doom. I did find a new mousetrap, made of black plastic with a bright yellow slab for the peanut butter or other bait that you might choose. They were easier to get “set” and ready for the next customer. I used one type of trap in my work as a janitor at an elementary school. The trap was a piece of sticky tape that once the mouse stepped on it, could not get it off. Then, it was up to you to dispose of the “live” mouse in any fashion you wanted. Traps are interesting and there are all kinds of them. Unfortunately, they are also around in our dealings with people. Jeremiah 5:26 says, “For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.” 

         Jeremiah was warning the people with the warning that he had received from the LORD. There were going to be traps that were being set by the enemy to catch men. Who would do such a thing? I have been in some interviews that were filled with “traps.” The questions asked were ones that if you answered in such a way, you would give off an indicator of something in which they disapproved. We might say that it was a loaded question. We often find even in the church that there are those people who are against your ministry before you even begin. You have to learn how to avoid the traps. If the mouse wasn't so attracted to peanut butter, it would live a lot longer. If people were not so prone to be proud of what goes on in their life, they would be a lot more prevalent to stay in their ministry. Like the mouse, we are tempted in our own “peanut butter” which Satan has used for centuries, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. If you can avoid these “traps” you will last a lot longer. If I were a mouse and could tell them to stay away from the peanut butter they would all end up being a lot happier. God has given us ample instruction in His word about the traps that people set and especially the traps that Satan sets for us every day of our lives. Jeremiah was warned about men who were going to be setting traps to catch men. God has warned us about the traps that we are going to face. So, take heed to the Word and be ready. Don't say, “well a little bit of peanut butter won't hurt just this once...SNAP!” Praise God today for His instruction in His Word.