14 Days to PeaceSample

God is a Father who protects His children in a thousand secret ways all the time. 

In Psalm 91:3 we’re given a strange, wonderful promise: “For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler.” Why do we need to be delivered from the fowler’s snare? 

Ancient bird hunters used a variety of traps that often incorporated decoys to lure birds into a net or other mode of capture. A trap is, by definition, a hidden ploy. If you miss a trap, you don’t even know that you missed it. 

When our son was three years old, we went out to dinner and, after putting him to bed that night, I decided to jot down all the ways that I’d saved his life in one night! 

First, I had pulled the boy back into his highchair just as he was making it tip backward—saving him a trip to the emergency room. 

Then, I pulled the boy away from his ice cream bowl when I recognized that he was about to eat five adult portions himself—saving him from a gigantic bellyache. 

Next, I pulled the large, steel steak knife away from him after he grabbed it from someone else’s place setting—sparing him a gaping flesh wound. 

After dinner, I pulled Bennett back as he darted straight into the parking lot in front of moving cars. 

I then required him to sit in his designated car seat with seat belt attached. 

Once home, I assured that his bathwater was not scorching hot and gave him only one gummy vitamin when he wanted the whole jar. 

If I, a limited earthly father, saved my son’s life a dozen times in one night, how much more is our Heavenly Father at work protecting us all the time? The devil may be at work setting traps, but the Lord is a Father who delivers us from the “snare of the fowler.” Let us be wise during days of disease and uncertainty, but let us be reassured God is actively at work saving, sparing, and rescuing us all the time. And that’s the Gospel! 

Questions for Reflection:

1) What is something in your life you are eager to protect? How do you go about protecting it?

2) Is there a time when you felt the hand of God protecting you or someone you love? Take a moment to thank God for all the times He saved you even in secret.