Psalm 119:110 The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from your precepts. The ungodly have laid a snare for me; but yet I swerved not from thy commandments. Temptations are sometimes open and manifest, and we know what we are doing when we resist them. But often they are secret and subtle, and we have nothing evidently to oppose. Then our safety depends on our moral and spiritual health and vigor, which in a natural way resists the encroachment of spiritual disease. The secrecy and trickiness of much of our temptation to evil is indicated by the psalmist's calling it a snare. Illustration may be taken from our physical relation to infectious disease. A man may, in the way of his duty, have to go where there is infectious disease. Then he braces up his will to a positive resistance, and so is in great measure guarded. But a man may, in the ordinary course of life, without knowing it, be subject to infection; then his safety absolutely depends on the measure of his vitality. Vital force is resistance of disease. Fungus grows on the parts of trees in which the life is flagging. The psalmist here declares that the resolute will and persistent effort to keep God's commandments, had proved to be a power of moral health and life which had kept him from insidious temptations that were like snares. I. EVIL CANNOT PUT ITS SNARES IN THE GOOD MAN'S PATH. Not actually in the path. The highway of holiness God keeps, and makes a plain path. It is a well-kept road; he allows no obstructions, and removes all perils. If a man will only keep in the way of righteousness, his path shall be clear right through, his life shall be like the light which "shineth more and more unto the perfect day." It is God's narrow way, and nobody and nothing can put obstacles or snares into it. II. EVIL CAN PUT ITS SNARES JUST ON ONE SIDE OF THE GOOD MAN'S PATH. There is a line which it may not pass, but it puts its snares as near to the line as it possibly can. They are well in the good man's sight, and always most attractively disguised. But the good man must swerve a little from the right, and step over the line, before he can possibly fall into the snare. The man is in the wrong before he does the wrong. III. THE GOOD MAN'S SAFETY LIES IN GOING STRAIGHT ON. Swerving is the peril; looking about is the mistake. We know God's will; then let us keep on doing it. "Let thine eyes look straight on." - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.WEB: The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I haven't gone astray from your precepts. |
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