Monday

Holy Snares

by John Musselman
The Bible speaks often about snares. The teacher in Proverbs warns his charge about the snares of the wicked, such as violence and greed. Different Psalmists mourn or rejoice about the snares that they have fallen into and escaped from. And somewhere the Bible even tells us that words of a person's mouth can be a snare.

Certainly, Christians today relate to all of these truths. And we can appreciate how purposefully and perfectly the Lord rescues us from the snares of sin that we have fallen into - and still fall into. But something happened this weekend that made me think that God lays snares too...holy snares.

Here's my story...I had just settled into my seat to enjoy a concert with my wife and brothers-in-law, and when I took out my phone to do the obligatory "silence-your-cell-phone" drill, I saw two missed calls from a strange North Carolina number. Then, just a few minutes later, a text from the same number - and not a text that anyone wants to get:..

"This is Detective M. with the Raleigh Police Department. There has been an incident with your car at North Hills Mall."

Turns out that some poor soul busted in my passenger door window and robbed my glove box. All they got was an ancient GPS that I never used anymore. So, at least my car wasn't in a ditch, and nothing valuable had been taken. But there was glass EVERYWHERE - covering the seat, on the floor, across the dashboard, sprinkled on the steering wheel - there was even a shard on the hood! How did it get on the hood?? When I first saw the shattered window I was taken aback by the thought of the sheer force the person must have used to break in. It truly was an act of violence.

But in spite of the character of the act, and the hassle that it caused me, all I could really think was that this was God's way of getting one of his people to pray for the thief. Maybe this guy (girl?) has never had someone praying for them before. Maybe it's a teenager who's just starting to mix with the wrong crowd. Maybe it was an addict who longs to be free of their chains. I don't know. But Jesus told us to bless those who persecute us, and give to those who ask of us. And what's more, I know that Jesus himself had mercy on me when I did worse things, and he didn't destroy me - no, he snared me in His love, and I'll never be the same.

So I can't be mad at this guy. I just pray he gets a good price for my GPS, and that one day he can look back and trace something mysterious, something miraculous beginning to happen in his heart the day he decided to smash the window of a white Mazda 3.

Thank God for His holy snares. 

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