Proverbs 13:14
In Proverbs 13:14 we read:
The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death. (Proverbs 13:14)
This verse tells us that one of the purposes of teaching is to make a person wise, so that he is able to avoid the snares of death.
The Cunning of the Bait
This verse speaks of snares. To understand it better, we need to know how a snare actually works. What is it? A snare is a device for catching a bird, an animal, or a fish — or in wartime, a man — and delivering it into the hands of the hunter or of his enemy. There are all kinds of snares, but they all operate on the same principle: deception. Every good snare is built so that, at first glance, its danger is never noticed. More than that — the snare is made attractive.
Alluring Bait
Every trap usually has some kind of bait. If we want to catch a mouse, we set out a bit of cheese; if we are going to catch a fish, we fasten on a worm. When the fish sees the bait on the hook, it thinks it has found food, something tasty and pleasant. But when it bites the bait, it bites down on the hook along with it. The hook lodges in the fish, and from that moment on the fish is forced to move toward the fisherman — and from there, most often, to the frying pan, that is, to its own death.
When the bird rushes toward the snare, it does not know that this is against its own life! This very delusion is noted in Proverbs 7:23. There the immoral man is compared to a bird caught in a trap:
23 till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. (Proverbs 7:23)
If the bird truly knew this was so, it would hardly be rushing there!
If we really knew what the spiritual traps of sin are — if we were truly convinced that once we fall into them there is no way to escape unharmed — I am certain we would never desire their bait.
The Snares of Death
Our verse (Proverbs 13:14) says that the wise man avoids the snares of death. But what are these snares of death? I am sure that the kinds of bait fastened to the hook of the devil and of eternal death are many. Satan is cunning, and he carefully selects his bait according to the person he wants to catch. Yet there are at least three kinds of bait about which the Bible speaks with unusual clarity and openness — perhaps because they are the most common of all.
The Love of Money
In Matthew 13:22, in the parable of the sower, Jesus explains that one of the weeds which chokes the seed of the Word is the lure of wealth:
22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. (Matthew 13:22)
In 1 Timothy 6:9-10 the apostle Paul adds very plainly:
9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:9-10)
Notice that here the craving to get rich is expressly called a “trap.”
Idols
In Psalm 106:34-36 we read how the Israelites fell into this snare of death:
34 They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them, 35 but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. 36 They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. (Psalm 106:34-36)
Syncretism, the mixing together of different religions, is sin. The following example will help us understand better what syncretism is.
Some Catholic missionaries went to South America and wanted to Christianize the tribe among whom they were working. They tore down the temple of the tribe’s god and, using its stones, built a church in a different place. They expected the natives to start coming and praying in the church. Instead, the people went on holding their religious gatherings at the site of the razed temple.
When they saw that things were not going as they had hoped, the missionaries changed their strategy. They demolished the new church and rebuilt it on the site of the old pagan temple. Then the local people did begin to gather in the church. But instead of praying to Jesus Christ, they went on praying to their old gods.
I believe something similar happened in our own country. From history we know that our ancestors were pagans. The proto-Bulgarians bowed down to Tangra, the god of the sun; the Slavs and the Thracians worshiped trees, animals, and the forces of nature.
Christianity did not come to Bulgaria in the right way. It was imposed by force by Tsar Boris for political reasons. The conversion of the Bulgarians was carried out by coercion — something entirely incompatible with the nature of the gospel. God has given man a free will, and he respects it. He seeks willing worshipers. Otherwise, perhaps he would have made us not people but robots.
I suspect, however, that when they were baptized, the people of our lands simply exchanged the names of their old gods for the names of saints. Perhaps the god of the sea became St. Nicholas; the god of wine became St. Trifon the Pruner; the god of war became St. George the Victorious, and so on. And to this day a great many Bulgarians go on bowing to icons and praying to the saints. So syncretism is in fact a fertile environment for preserving idolatry under a different form.
The New Testament, however, is emphatic. In 1 Timothy 2:5 it says:
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)
Sexual Immorality
In Ecclesiastes 7:26 we read:
26 I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare. (Ecclesiastes 7:26)
Who is this woman whose heart is a snare and a net, and whose hands are chains? She is the harlot — the one who sells her body to give men sexual pleasure. But in doing so, she pulls them away from their families and breaks up their marriages. In Proverbs 6:26 we read:
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life. (Proverbs 6:26)
God hates sexual immorality and adultery. In the Seventh Commandment (Exodus 20:14) he says:
14 You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
Sexual immorality is a work of the flesh, and the New Testament states that the sexually immoral — men and women alike — will not enter the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10):
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
The Hunter of Human Souls
We have seen what the snares of death are, but who is the hunter lying in wait, the one who sets the snares to catch people? The hunter is the devil, the adversary of our souls. In John 8:44 Jesus said of him:
44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
The devil has his army of demons who wage war against us. Their chief weapons are cunning and deception. We are at war with them. And this war will not cease until the devil, together with all his subordinates, is thrown by God into the lake of fire.
The demons strive to influence the circumstances around us so that they are as favorable as possible for us to fall into temptation.
But if we stand on God’s side and hold the right position, the powers of darkness cannot defeat us. In Ephesians 6:10-13 it says:
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:10-13)
A Godly Flight
What are we to do when we meet the snares of death? The Bible gives us one clear answer to this question — flee from them.
1 Timothy 6:10-11 tells us to flee from the love of money:
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. (1 Timothy 6:10-11)
In 1 Corinthians 10:7,14 the apostle Paul tells us to flee from idolatry:
7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were… 14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:7,14)
And the apostle John, too, ends his first letter (5:21) with these words:
21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)
1 Corinthians 6:18 commands us to flee from sexual immorality:
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18)
In Proverbs 5:1-8 the Holy Spirit gives us an extremely practical piece of counsel:
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, 2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. 3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; 4 but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. 6 She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. 7 Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. 8 Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house. (Proverbs 5:1-8)
We must not even come near the door of another man’s wife — especially when we are in love with each other and she is home alone. If we are walking her home (particularly late at night) and she invites us in, our passions can be kindled, our self-control can prove insufficient, and we can commit sexual sin.
A wonderful example of fleeing from sexual immorality is Joseph. When his mistress tempted him, he ran away from her. And even afterward, though he was unjustly accused and thrown into prison, he continued to enjoy God’s favor, because he had taken his stand against sin. In Genesis 39:6-15 we read:
6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:6-9)
We must never forget before whom we stand. Every sin we commit, whether or not it harms other people, is above all a sin against God. After he repented of his adultery with Bathsheba, King David wrote in Psalm 51:3-4:
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. (Psalm 51:3-4)
10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. (Genesis 39:10)
Notice that Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph every single day. She kept pressing him and tempting him. Delilah did the same with Samson. And sin does the same — it keeps pursuing us day after day. That is what the devil is like: he constantly argues with us in our thoughts, and with each new word he weakens our will more and more, until we begin to yield to him. Joseph was faithful — but his mistress was not.
11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. (Genesis 39:11-12)
13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” (Genesis 39:13-15)
The reaction of Potiphar’s wife shows how much she really loved him. Once she could not achieve her lustful aim, she slandered Joseph and had him thrown into prison.
Do we long to be able to look temptation straight in the face and tell it a firm “No!”? I do not want to discourage you, but most likely we will never be able to do that. Temptation is stronger than we are, more persistent, more persuasive. The only way to deal with it is to flee, to flee, and to flee again from it.
Run for Your Life!
When Joseph was caught in a tight spot, he fled instantly. In this he shows us how we ought to flee from the snares of death. How are we to run for our lives? In Genesis 19:17 God told Lot how:
17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” (Genesis 19:17)
His wife, however, did not flee this way. Sodom and Gomorrah were in her heart. At one moment in her flight she stopped, turned back, and sadly, in that moment, she became a pillar of salt. That is why the Lord Jesus told us in Luke 17:32:
32 Remember Lot’s wife! (Luke 17:32)
One of the things that will help us avoid the snares of death is the fear of the Lord. In Proverbs 14:27 — a verse so similar to ours in Proverbs 13:14 that it could be called its brother — we read:
27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)
Free from the Snare
If, in spite of everything, we have been caught by the hunter in one of the snares of death, but we are still alive and struggling, then God’s will is that we should not stay there, but turn and flee. Here is what Psalm 124:7 says:
7 We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. (Psalm 124:7)
If today you are bound by something — by the love of money, by idolatry, or by sexual immorality — then know that God’s will is for you to be set free this very day. Receive God’s words. Believe that things are just as God says they are. Believe that in the name of Jesus you are free, and be free! Free to escape from your snare. You do not need to remain in the devil’s captivity any longer!
Here are a few practical steps we can take if we are bound by a sinful habit.
1. Leave the puddle we have been drinking from and start drinking only from the living water.
When the Samaritan woman left her meeting with Jesus, she “left her water jar.” That act of hers was telling. Before, she had sought to quench her thirst through relationships with different men. But clearly it did not work, because in the end she was never satisfied. Now, however, having found Jesus, she had no need of her old sinful and inadequate source of contentment. Having the living water, she needed nothing else. The presence of sinful habits in our lives shows that we still do not have the fullness of Christ in us. That is why we must keep seeking him! Until the moment when we can say with all our heart the words of Psalm 87:7 —
7 As they make music they will sing, “All my fountains are in you.” (Psalm 87:7)
2. Come out of the darkness into the light.
In many ways sin is like mold or mildew. As long as it is in the dark, it develops very quickly. But if it is brought out into the sun, it soon dries up and disappears. The way to bring sin into the light is to confess it. This means to stop justifying it and making excuses so that we can go on committing it, and instead to call it by its true name and speak it out — first to God, then to the one who has been harmed by it, if there is such a person, and finally to a faithful steward whom we trust enough. Doing these things will strip sin of its power and, in the end, put it to death.
3. Life-saving amputation.
One of the principles in medicine states: “The part of the body that is incurably injured must be amputated, so that the remaining parts, which are still healthy, do not also become diseased.” Amputation is a last resort, but one thing cannot be denied — it saves life. It is no accident that in Mark 9:43-48 the Lord Jesus said:
43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where “‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’” (Mark 9:43-48)
In the practice of the spiritual life, life-saving amputation means removing from our reach the things that provoke us to sin — making it impossible for us to access the source of temptation, even if this makes us look restricted.
In Acts 19:18-20 we see how the new believers in Ephesus did exactly this:
18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. (Acts 19:18-20)
Notice that these verses say, first, that the believers confessed their sins not only before God but also to one another. And second, they destroyed their occult books, even though they were extremely expensive, simply to shut off any possibility of being tempted again to return to their magic. If we want to be free from our sinful habits, we too must do these same two things at all costs — illuminating confession and life-saving amputation. This is the way to blot sin out of our lives.
Conclusion
1. What are the snares of death? — The pursuit of riches, idolatry, and sexual immorality.
2. Who is the hunter? — Satan.
3. How are we to avoid the snares of death? — By fleeing from them.
In his Word God tells us:
- Flee from the love of money!
- Flee from idolatry!
- Flee from the immoral life!
These are God’s teachings. They are a fountain of life. Let us receive them! Let us have the fear of the Lord! Let us not be foolish, but wise — and this means to be alive!
Finally, let us read our verse from Proverbs 13:14 once more, and let it be sealed within us!
14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death. (Proverbs 13:14)