“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” — Psalm 40:1-2
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A half-court trapping defense was one of my favorite tactics to inject into a game as a basketball coach. I’d teach my players to keep the ball out of the middle of the court and try to get our opponents to dribble across the half-court line and into “The Trap.”
As a defense, our plan was to make those wide-open spaces look so enticing! “Look at all that space in the corners,” they’d say. “Nobody is there. I can dribble there whenever I want. So easy. What could go wrong?”
But then right when you think you have made a great decision, the trap springs. You realize you are in serious trouble. You have two defenders breathing down your neck and you are cut off from your teammates.
You just dribbled right into a trap.
It’s the same in our daily lives: The enemy is skilled at baiting the trap, and sin is alluring. I mean, sin is so simple and everyone else does it, right?
But when you fall into the trap — BAM! Now you are stuck, trapped, cut off and hopeless. The enemy whispers in a condemning voice that buries you ever deeper into the darkness, “You are the only one. You are all alone. You will never get out of this trap.”
No doubt the woman at the well felt this despair in John 4 — outcast, lonely and trudging along the dusty path to the well on the outskirts of town with a heavy heart. She was without hope and trapped in a life that got darker every single day.
But God already knew she was about to have a divine encounter that was orchestrated since the world began. The traps of the enemy were obliterated when Jesus revealed Himself to her. She threw down her earthly possessions and ran to tell every person she knew about this rescuing God.
God gave His only Son so that we would be rescued for all eternity if we put our trust in Him. No matter the trap, God delivers us when we call out to Him.
“The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” — Psalm 34:17-18 (NLT)
— Melissa Motes
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