Evening, August 19
Go To Morning Reading
“Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou
art my strength.”
Psalm 31:4
Our spiritual foes are of the serpent’s brood, and seek to ensnare us by subtlety. The prayer before us
supposes the possibility of the believer being caught like a bird.
So deftly does the fowler do his work, that simple ones are soon surrounded
by the net. The text asks that even out of Satan’s meshes the captive one may be delivered; this is a proper petition,
and one which can be granted: from between the jaws of the lion, and
out of the belly of hell, can eternal love rescue the saint. It may
need a sharp pull to save a soul from the net of temptations, and
a mighty pull to extricate a man from the snares of malicious cunning,
but the Lord is equal to every emergency, and the most skilfully placed
nets of the hunter shall never be able to hold his chosen ones. Woe
unto those who are so clever at net laying; they who tempt others
shall be destroyed themselves.
“ For thou art my strength .” What an inexpressible sweetness is to be found in these few words!
How joyfully may we encounter toils, and how cheerfully may we endure
sufferings, when we can lay hold upon celestial strength. Divine power
will rend asunder all the toils of our enemies, confound their politics,
and frustrate their knavish tricks; he is a happy man who has such
matchless might engaged upon his side. Our own strength would be of
little service when embarrassed in the nets of base cunning, but the
Lord’s strength is ever available; we have but to invoke it, and we shall
find it near at hand. If by faith we are depending alone upon the
strength of the mighty God of Israel, we may use our holy reliance
as a plea in supplication.
“Lord, evermore thy face we seek:
Tempted we are, and poor, and weak;
Keep us with lowly hearts, and meek.
Let us not fall. Let us not fall.”