Psalms 119:110 Soul Slip Knots

Hidden Treasures of the 119th Psalm. How fun to dig around in verse 110 today in the 119th Psalm. And this verse would be the fear of the Lord, the first or the sixth verse in the none section. And so, it's kind of cool to just consider what would the fear of the Lord be when it comes to our souls. And the way that this verse reads, and it's so cool in so many different ways. Verse 110 reads in English, the wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I erred not from my precepts.

So, I think it's really cool to just think about Jesus in this situation, right? The wicked laid all kinds of snares for him. And you might remember the Pharisees came to him on several occasions, but one time, you know, of course they said, should we pay taxes to Caesar or no? And of course he had this wonderful, unbelievable counsel that you pay taxes to Caesar, but what is God's gift to God?

Which is a big idea of this, he didn't err from thy precepts, right? That when you have a snare around your foot, that's when you go to God and you slip right out of the snare. And again, when you think about if you've ever seen a bird snare, what they used in ancient times, the way that feet on birds are, they just are kind of clunky. So, if you just put a string down with a slipknot on it, and there's some beautiful old Indian tricks that they use, they would just put this wonderful slipknot on a piece of string and put it down where the birds normally eat. And eventually their feet, they just, just like you would trip on a string. Well, when their feet get in that snare and they walk, the slipknot traps them. And so, you know, when you think about it, we're kind of birds, we're not meant for this world.

And so, you know, we're a whole lot better with our feet are kind of clumsy when they're on the ground. They're meant to soar, they're meant to perch. But unfortunately, when you just walk on flat ground, they lay out flat and they are easily snared. And so, they thought they had Jesus in a snare. But of course, if you go to God, you see with the precept, the idea of going to a meeting with God, then immediately your feet just slip out of this snare.

And it's cool. I mean, it's, um, the idea of this snare, of course, as you might guess, has to do with this idea of the nun. How in the world can your soul be trapped? And of course, Satan's got all sorts of different ways that he wants to do this.

And of course, all you have to do is says here is err not from thy precepts, and you walk right out of the trap. You know, one of my favorites of the snares that they tried to put Jesus in, you might remember when they ask him for a sign or a wonder, right? They were hoping to trip him up, that he, you know, wouldn't be able to make some kind of a miracle under their cases.

And so, what he told them is so brilliant, it's unbelievable. On so many different levels, he said, in a couple different places, you might remember, he said, no sign will be given to you up other than the sign of the prophet Jonah. And, and one time he explains one of the signs of the prophet Jonah, obviously, is your three days in the belly of a fish. But there's other signs when you think about the prophet Jonah, because when you think about the story of Jonah, where was he supposed to go? We were supposed to go to Nineveh, right, which were the Gentiles. And he was supposed to give them a message that would cause them to repent. Well, he being the big brother, right, he, he was trying to judge the Ninevites, and they weren't deserving of repentance, right?

So he didn't want to go do it. And so what happened was, in this particular case, when you think about it, he's telling the Pharisees that they're, they're like Jonah, that they don't want to repent, they don't want to go to that they're like the older brother, they're judging rather than seeking what the father really wants. And by seeking what the father wants, your feet go right out of these slip knots that Satan would snare you in, you see, it's a beautiful thing. And I can't help but think of my own life, that one of the worst snares I ever got myself in, was when we lost all our money in the dealership, and I owed so many different people so many different things, and all these creditors were coming to me.

In fact, the attorney might, I might have told you this story before told me you just need to climb under a rock because everybody's coming after you. And so when you're trying to support your family, and you just have so much money, and everybody's is waiting on you. It's a beautiful thing to forsake not the precepts at that particular point in time, because I remember, you know, just as been my custom before, I lost everything. And when I had lost everything, I still went every morning to God in prayer, and I still got his peace that transcended all understanding.

And he just said, keep coming to me told me what to pay when to pay it. He always provided for us, we never went hungry. And, you know, it was a lot of years of, of having to run to him to keep our feet out of those slip knots. But it's a beautiful thing, you know, that it really, really is that if your feet begin to get snared, again, turn towards God, walk towards him, you walk right out of the knot, right. And I love this.

I love, love, love this verse, because again, it's telling us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What do you do when you're in trouble? Go to dad, I, I had this opportunity back when Chrysler was going bankrupt and General Motors were going bankrupt. And, and I was being interviewed by this very, what I was told liberal talk show host in Chicago. And I remember praying God, I knew going in that the interval might be tough. And so I remember praying before the interview, God, you got to help me, because I don't know what they're going to ask me in this situation. And the idea was that I was going to help them understand why General Motors was going back and bankrupt.

And what might help General Motors to get out of bankruptcy was kind of the purpose of the interview. And so, unfortunately, or fortunately, really, fortunately, it's exactly what God had in mind. The very first words out of this host mouth and in Chicago that day, is I was on a big radio station in Chicago, is that host said to me, so you're the Christian car guy, I don't suppose you give help to anybody, but Christians. And for whatever reason, God just gave me this. I said, No, I said, you know, it's, it's, it's times like these, right? That I think that my favorites call that I ever got from my son was when he drove his car into the ditch.

And the very first person he called was me. You know, it showed me that when he was in trouble, he knew where to turn. Well, you know, in our situation right now with General Motors, it appears we've driven our car into the ditch, and it's time to call Dan. And therein lies this idea of the fear of the Lord, right? We've driven our car into the ditch, or we got our feet in the snare, and it's time to call Dan. It's a beautiful example of what the psalmist is sharing here, that our souls need out of the slipknot. It just they just do, because the wicked are going to lay traps for you. But believe me, if we err not from our precepts, it's a beautiful thing to watch your foot come right out from underneath that slipknot. Thanks for listening.