August 19, Evening
C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling
"Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for Thou art my strength." — Psalm 31:4 · KJV
Our spiritual foes are of the serpent's brood and seek to ensnare us by cunning. The prayer before us supposes that a believer may be caught like a bird; so deftly does the fowler work that simple souls are soon surrounded by the net. The text asks that even out of Satan's meshes the captive may be delivered — a fitting petition, and one that can be granted, for eternal love can rescue the saint from between the lion's jaws and out of the belly of hell. It may take a sharp pull to save a soul from the net of temptation, and a mighty pull to free a man from the snares of malicious cunning, but the Lord is equal to every emergency, and the most skillfully placed nets of the hunter shall never hold His chosen ones. Woe to those so clever at laying nets; they who tempt others shall themselves be destroyed. "For Thou art my strength." What inexpressible sweetness is in these few words! How joyfully we may face toil, and how cheerfully endure suffering, when we can lay hold of heavenly strength! Divine power will tear apart all the snares of our enemies, confound their schemes, and frustrate their crafty tricks; happy is the man who has such matchless might on his side. Our own strength would be of little use when tangled in the nets of base cunning, but the Lord's strength is always available; we have only to call on it, and we shall find it near at hand. If by faith we depend on the strength of the mighty God of Israel alone, we may use that holy reliance as a plea in prayer: Lord, evermore we seek Your face; tempted, poor, and weak as we are, keep us with lowly and meek hearts, and let us never fall.