Last weekend I took the boys out to a local crawdad hotspot. We were hoping to catch 50 or so so we could boil them up and have a meal.
A friend of mine insisted that we could fill a 5 gallon bucket full of them if we only used one of his traps. I think that was just a clever excuse to come along with us, because after about a half an hour, we still hadn’t caught even one. It was time to take matters into my own hands. I found an old Burger King cup on the shore and began hunting.
Catching crawdads can be a little tricky. It requires a little bit of strategy, and a little bit of deception.
When a crawdad is threatened, it will face it’s enemy with its claws ready to pinch. When it’s time to flee, it will flick it’s tail and swim backwards across the rocks until it finds a place to hide.
So I wade around the shoreline overturning rocks, being very careful not to disturb the water and stir up a cloud of silt. Once I spot a crawdad, the game is on.
I dangle my free hand out in front of his face in order to distract him. He faces me in a defensive posture with claws up. Then with my other hand I get behind him with the cup. The trap is now set. As I move my free hand closer in a threatening manner, eventually he panics and flicks his tail, straight into the back of my cup. While trying to escape the threat that I’ve placed in front of him, he has sealed his fate. I scoop him up out of the water, and there is another crawdad in the cooler.
It took about an hour to catch 40 to 50 crawdads, which proved to be a rather tasty snack.
Satan is a master of strategy and deception. He knows how to pull all the right strings and spin all the right lies in order to mislead the world into thinking wrongly about the nature and character of God.
“Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” 2Cor 4:4
I can’t tell you how many people I talk to from different world religions, atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, and all sorts of other types, that view the God of the Bible as a threat. He has been painted as a tyrant, a lie, a fairy tale, an egomaniac, etc.
As they put up their defenses and back away from a perceived threat, they fall right into the devils trap, and so seal their fate.
It’s our job as Christians to show them the truth, the love, and forgiveness that God offers the world in Christ. The last command of Jesus is the great commission and high calling to us all: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Are your friends, loved ones, co workers, neighbors, being deceived by Satan and heading for eternal doom? Are you telling them the message of the glory of Christ?
Release them from the devil’s trap. Be a true and faithful witness. God bless you as you answer this highest of callings.