Taking the Bait

A few weeks ago my wife and I were at the lake seeking to deceive a few trout into believing the best thing for them to do that day was take our bait. On this particular day we were having considerable difficulty in doing so. All around us the fish were jumping, they were feeding on something, I just couldn't figure out what it was, for quite some time I was admittedly stumped! You see our family enjoys very much taking in the bounty of the waters and satisfying our desire to eat fish. Having been a fisherman as long as I can remember there are many tricks I have learned to get the fish to take my bait. You see fishing is not the part I enjoy the most it is rather the catching that fulfills my desires. Therefore as you can imagine on this particular day I was rather frustrated. I knew the fish were hungry, I knew they were feeding, and in many ways I felt that it was as if they were tormenting me. My frustration mounted as I tried everything in my tackle box, all to no avail. Finally I stopped trying to fix it on my own, took a break, and asked the Lord for wisdom, (yes He even cares about catching), when the answer came. I took what I heard, changed Debbie's bait and very soon after there was a 24" rainbow trout in the boat, followed by 9 more, our limit. Later as I pondered the mornings events I began to see so many similarities to our lives and opportunities to learn from this adventure. You see the fish were so busy feeding they became unable to tell the real food from the bait we were using, I capitalized on that and deceived them. I knew they were in a frenzy all I had to do was identify their desire, imitate the real prey and take advantage of their situation. When I apply this to my own life and the lives of others I know; I begin to see how often we get so caught up in what is going on around us that we overlook the details, we become so frenzied that we can be deceived into taking the bait, in that case "the bait of satan." 1Peter 5 describes how the "devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour" he is looking for every opportunity to lead us in to a trap, and hence those we influence as well. We like fish, get excited when there is high energy, when people are infused with joy, and other endorfin releasing emotions, all of which on their own may be quite beneficial. However when taken in great quantities they are apt to lead us astray. The answer: take the time to seek the real thing, don't be deceived into falling for bait by being impatient and frenzied, take the time to check out the truth and avoid the pitfalls that so many have and will continue to fall in to. Seek the Lord for wisdom when your own wisdom fails, take the time to ask for discernment, seek counsel, and pursue humility, trust God first not man, and maybe then we will stop taking the bait and being fed upon by the enemy of our souls.
Gene Burroughs
Servant of God