Psalm 119:110

Today’s meditation from Psalm 119 follows closely upon the meditation of verse 109 that precedes it.  Both verses deal with the themes of danger and duty.  In the preceding verse we saw that the psalmist was in continual danger of losing his life.  A major reason for this danger is stated in the verse we take up today.

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

David had many snares laid for him as we note from his pen in these two passages:

Psalms 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.

Psalms 140:4  Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.

5  The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.

These snares set David to calling upon the Lord for help.  

As we think of the wicked laying a snare for us, let us not forget the devil, called by our Lord “the wicked one” (Matthew 13:19).  Satan is ever laying snares to entrap men in error and sin. 

When this verse is compared with the preceding one, we can say that since our soul is continually in our hand, the wicked are continually laying snares for us.  In his book The Treasury of David, Charles Spurgeon cited the following poem by Quarels.  It demonstrates how we encounter snares everywhere.

“The close pursuers’ busy hands do plant

Snares in thy substance; snares attend thy wants;

Snares in thy credit; snares in thy disgrace;

Snares in thy high estate; snares in thy base;

Snares tuck thy bed; and snares surround thy board;

Snares watch thy thoughts; and snares attack thy word;

Snares in thy quiet; snares in thy commotion;

Snares in thy diet; snares in thy devotion;

Snares lurk in thy resolves; snares in thy doubt;

Snares lie within thy heart, and snares without;

Snares are above thy head, and snares beneath;

Snares in thy sickness; snares are in thy death.”

That poem quite describes my daily life.  How about yours?  Girolamo Savanarola also vividly depicts the snares the wicked everywhere lay for us.

“In eating, he (the wicked) sets before us gluttony; in love he impels to lust; in labour, sluggishness; in conversing, envy; in governing, covetousness; in correcting, anger; in honour, pride; in the heart, he sets evil thoughts; in the mouth, evil words; in actions, evil works; when awake, he move us to evil actions; when asleep, to filthy dreams.”

Now that says it, doesn’t it?  Snares!  Snares!  Everywhere a snare!  And since the wicked are continually setting traps for us, we need to be ever watching lest we be ensnared. 

Matthew 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

But even though the wicked were laying snares for the psalmist, he could state:  yet I erred not from thy precepts.  Again we encounter that conjunctive adverb yet joining the two clauses of this sentence (refer to the preceding meditation for the definition of yet). The psalmist had so much danger to contend with. However, contrary to what you might expect, he did not let that distress take his focus off of God’s precepts.  His safety and his deliverance lay in the fact that he kept to God’s precepts and did not stray from them.  If he walked according to God’s precepts, he would walk safe from many snares that he might otherwise stumble into.

Proverbs 3:21  My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:

22  So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.

23  Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.

Proverbs 13:14  The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

But if he stumbled into one of the traps the wicked laid for him, he would be able to recover himself from that snare by repenting and turning again to God’s precepts.

2 Timothy 2:24  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth (the Lord’s precepts);

26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

May the good Lord keep us safe from every snare.