A Snare

The picture is of a dog trap. Loose dogs are a fact of life on the reservation and for the most part we haven’t had trouble with them since we moved here. Robin and I have each had a few encounters in our exercise routines of walking and running. Around our house our policy towards the various dogs that pass through the property is live-and-let live.

Recently, we had to make an exception. There were a few dogs running around together that were beginning to cause trouble for our outdoors cat. The cat is pretty wary for danger but these dogs were beginning to be persistent in their attempts to get into the garage, where her food and bedding are. And so we called the animal control officer.

He came by on a spring-like day and set up this trap. The next day we had heavy snow. A day or two later I saw that the bait had been taken without the trap being sprung, as the mechanism was frozen in the snow.

I let it sit like that for two weeks, until one day last week when I looked outside just before dawn to see one of those same dogs running down our driveway. That morning I dug the trap out and set it in the sun to thaw. Late in the day I baited it with a piece of bread covered in peanut butter. In the middle of the night I heard a noise that sounded like howling and in the morning I got up to find that dog in the trap. I called animal control, who picked up the dog and reset the trap. That same afternoon, during a time when I was gone for just a half hour, the other trouble-making dog was caught.

That whole episode came to mind this morning as I was reading from Exodus. In the end of Exodus 23 the Hebrews receive a warning about developing relationships with the people living in Canaan, before the Hebrews go to live in that same land.  Verses 32-33 say:

"You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

The dog trap isn't a snare, but it works in the same way. It has some enticing bait and when it springs there is no way that whatever is caught gets out on their own. Its purpose is to lure, and then capture.

I found it curious that the warning against being ensnared by false gods come so quickly after Exodus 20, where the Hebrews received the Ten Commandments. The very first one is the command to love and serve the One True God, alone. The command to never have any other gods.

On the one hand it is curious to see the warning so soon after the commandment. On the other hand, as we read history in the Old Testament, there was good reason. Their hearts frequently turned to worship virtually any and every god who came along, rather than practice singular devotion to the one who truly was, and is, God. We can't look back on them and think that we are any better today. We turn and follow false gods as readily and easily as they did.  

In 2 Peter 5:8 we are warned of the danger like this:

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

So I share the image of the trap as a reminder. The bait may be tempting, but it is not harmless. Seeking after it will lead to all manner of things that are nothing but trouble.

Temptation to sin will always be around us, but as you see the bait remember that the trap is there as well, and then look to the Lord, trusting that least thing he has for you is infinitely and always better than the most tempting bait towards sin.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.