Caught In The Net
Even though I live in California, my heart resides in Maryland.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and as summer winds down, I’m reflecting on so many late August memories back in Maryland, times when our family would take our final camping trip down to the beach. Months earlier, back in late May or early June, we would always make our first trip to the shore by putting up our big sunny surplus tent down at Key Box Camp right on the barrier island on the Atlantic. Our campsite was just over the Maryland line and wedged up against the large, rolling sand dunes of Delaware. And that tent – which could sleep me, my sisters and all our cousins – that tent stayed up all summer long. During the day we’d play on the beach, collect shells, go crabbing over on the opposite side of the barrier island.
Trapping Chesapeake Bay blue crabs was always a tricky business. In the shallow water, we’d put out a box that was webbed with netting. In it, we’d place bits of fish or chicken as bait for the crabs. And then, while we sat back and picnicked on the shore, we’d wait for crabs to climb into our nets. All us kids would get so excited when we’d spot a couple of crabs, and then came the time to pluck those ill-tempered critters out of the netting. And like I said, it’s very tricky. ’Cause after all, they’re crabs. I mean, they’ve got claws. And that means they pinch. So, when you’re an eight-year-old kid trying to delicately pluck a crab all tangled in a net, you gotta be careful. Crabs do not like to be handled. They have quick tempers and will think nothing of biting your fingers. And that is painful! Which, as a kid, I always thought was unfair because most of those crabs were too small; we couldn’t eat them anyway, they had to be thrown back in the water. Still, they’d pinch; like, didn’t they know I was rescuing them?!
It’s a funny picture, and that picture came to mind recently when I stumbled across Psalm 25:15. I’m serious. I read this verse and I thought, oh my goodness, that’s me crabbing. It says this, “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.” I had to smile when I read those words about plucking out of the net. ’Cause I could easily see myself as a crab. Very ill-tempered. Because when I get into trouble and choose a wrong path, I get tangled in a net, I do. And when God tries to pluck me out of my entanglement, I’m like a crab. My pride doesn’t like it. “Don’t bother me; leave me alone; I can’t be troubled now.” Other times, when I realize my wrong-doing, I try very hard to untangle myself, to cut myself free of a web of deceit. But I only get further into trouble.
Friend, your adversary is very good at setting traps and setting snares and weaving webs. The net that he weaves is woven of soft-spun deceits and threads of sin and doubt, pain or weakness. So today, if you find yourself stuck in a net, do not allow pride to rule the situation. Do not resist the Holy Spirit when he convicts or reproves or corrects – it’s his way of plucking your feet from the net, because no one can do it himself. So, let me repeat Psalm 25:15 one more time. “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.” Are you entangled in a deceitful snare? Have you gotten yourself foolishly into a trap? Put your eyes ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck your feet out of that net. Let me hear from you today on my Facebook page if you need prayer support – you need to get disentangled from some sin. Or you can always share your story with me at joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends
Consider Supporting Joni and Friends!
Consider Supporting Joni and Friends!Joni and Friends would not exist without generous donors and volunteers like you! Would you consider supporting us in one of the ways below?
