Avoiding Snares
Proverbs 22:5, 24-25 NKJ
Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
He who guards his soul will be far from them.
Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,
Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.
I don't use the word snare often. It's a legit word, and according to the Online Dictionary, it is "anything that traps or entangles someone or something unawares." Our verses for today list a couple of snares that we want to avoid. And the thing about snares is that word “unawares.” Snares are sneaky. So here are a couple of ways to avoid being trapped unawares in our souls.
The first way to avoid setting a snare for your soul has to do with who you hang with. Your friendships and consistent companions can be a help or a hurt to you. A person to avoid is the angry person. I realize that would seemingly cover a large part of our nation's population. America is either filled with angry people, or angry people are the most prevalent online. Most likely, both statements have a measure of truth. And people are angry about ridiculous things.
I used to spend some time in watch and fountain pen online forums. One of the reasons I reduced my time on both was because of the angry people. Who gets mad about a fountain pen? Why would a watch brand set off a torrent of anger? But it appears that if anyone disagrees on matters of opinion, the sparks fly. Both subjects come under the "who cares" category, but not if you are an angry person.
The other person to avoid is the furious person. The Hebrew word carries the idea of anger with an increased level of heat. The NLT calls the furious "hot-tempered." Because I have extensive experience in this area, I can say that being hot-tempered has never served me well. Thankfully, by the grace of God and some spiritual growth, I have been able to dial it back in the hot-tempered area. But here is the problem: both anger and hot-tempered behavior are contagious. Proverbs says if you hang around these kinds of people, you will learn their ways and set a snare for your soul. Who you spend time with will impact you. As a pastor, at the risk of being painfully redundant, let me repeat that. Who you hang around with will impact you.
Here is another area to avoid, and while we are on the subject, another category of people to avoid. The perverse. Here is the best definition I have found for "perverse," again, from the Online Dictionary: "Characterized by or resulting from willful opposition or resistance to what is right, expected, or reasonable." And when we throw in God's Word and His will for our lives, we see that the word perverse has an even more egregious meaning. When we are willfully resistant to God and His ways, we will encounter thorns and traps. In other words, that course of action will be painful and not turn out well. Personally, we don't want to be that person. And we need to beware close friendships with someone who is resistant to the Lord.
Life has enough to deal with without setting traps by our own actions and relationships.
Prayer
Lord, please help me remove any resistance that I have in my heart toward You and Your Word. And please make me aware of any close relationship that is influencing the way I live. I want to avoid thorns and snares.