Young People’s Blog

“The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

Some years ago a man was hiking in the Canadian wilderness when he came upon a mother wolf whose leg was held in a trap. He could tell by looking at her that she had some pups, and in a few minutes he found her den and was able to bring out her four pups to her. They were of course very hungry, and glad to see their mother and feed from her. But how to set the mother free? She was a wild wolf; would she trust a strange man?

After he brought her pups to her, he carefully got a dish of fresh water and slowly brought it closer to her, but staying at a safe distance. After she had drunk the water, he carefully brought some meat for her, again keeping himself at a safe distance. He did this for several days, going a little closer each time.

Finally, on the fourth day, he ventured to creep close enough to touch the trap on her leg, and he was able to release it. She was free! We will talk about this more tomorrow.

“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him” (2 Timothy 2:25-26).

A snare is really another name for a trap, which men have used for thousands of years to catch wild animals. There is usually a part of the trap on which the animal steps, which then springs the jaws of the trap to catch the animal.

Satan lays traps for us like that. We do not suspect anything, but then suddenly we are caught, and it is very difficult to get loose from Satan’s traps. Of course, Satan does not catch us physically, but rather deceives us spiritually, so that we are caught into believing what is not true. Only the Lord is able to get us out of these traps, and tomorrow we will see how the Lord works to release us from Satan’s traps.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

A few days ago I was looking at some pictures taken of the stars with a camera in outer space. When we look at the stars from our earthly vantage point we see a brilliant scattering of twinkling lights. But in the dark vastness of outer space, they look like a thick pouring of sugar all over a black countertop. It is calculated that there are more stars in the heavens than grains of sand on the earth. Astounding, and beyond our imagination!

The God who created all this set His heart on our small planet earth as the stage to work out His purposes for eternity, the exaltation of His Son, and our eternal blessing. He sent His Son here to our pin sized dot of a planet to live, suffer and die. Why? Because He wanted to show His love to you and have you as His child for all eternity. Don’t refuse His offer of love and salvation!

“Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord…for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:7-8).

We are definitely living in the last days of the history of the church of God in this world, and as we can all see, things are getting more and more difficult. The world is getting more and more confused, we are hearing of events that could cause a war, and we are also seeing more and more discontent in this world. Economic conditions in many parts of the world are becoming more severe, and many people hardly know what to expect.

In the middle of all this, you and I can remember our verse for today. We are to be patient, for the Lord knows all about the conditions in this world, and is working out His purposes in spite of it all. For us, He tells us to remember that His coming is getting closer. If James could say this nearly 2,000 years ago, how much closer the Lord’s coming must be now! It was always the proper hope of the Christian, and in the midst of difficult days, it is a bright hope that should cheer us daily.

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).

“Purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8).

What does it mean to be double minded? James uses this expression twice in writing to his brethren the Jews, some of whom were truly saved, and others who were Christians outwardly, but were not truly saved.

To be double minded means to try and be two different kinds of people. In this case, many of those to whom James wrote were living for the Lord part of the time, but then at other times they were living for this world. Sometimes they spoke nicely, as a Christian should, while at other times they used bad language and cursed other people.

James tells us not to be like that, for it gives a confusing message to those around us. How can unsaved people believe the gospel we may preach to them if we also act like worldly people, and do all the wrong things that unsaved people do? As James tells us, we need to purify our hearts and allow the Spirit of God to lead and guide us in our speech and actions.

“Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently…searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (1 Peter 1:10-11).

There are many verses in the Old Testament that refer to the suffering of Christ, and then the glory that would follow. We can read Psalm 22, or Isaiah 53, or Zechariah 13, and see some of those verses. Yet often the prophets who wrote those verses did not understand what they meant. When they asked the Lord, His answer to them was that they were writing those verses for us, and not for themselves. Have you ever thought of that?

God actually used godly men in the Old Testament to write things down by inspiration that they themselves did not understand, and those things were for our benefit! What a privilege it is to live today, in the time of God’s grace, when we can understand things that were written back in the Old Testament that even the writers themselves did not understand.

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love” (Song of Solomon 2:4).

There it was — another “gone out of business” sign on yet another “all you can eat” restaurant! Somehow, it just doesn’t work anymore to have that type of advertising, as people take advantage of it, and soon there is no profit for the restaurant anymore. Too many people enjoying too much food, and it comes to an end. Sometimes there are expensive items on the buffet, and when people overload their plates with it, the restaurant loses out.

The Lord has spread a feast for us, and it is referred to as His banqueting house. There will never be a shortage there. The depths and heights of the love of Christ can never be reached (Ephesians 3:17-19), nor can we come to the end of those blessings promised us in Ephesians 1:3. Look up those verses and read them if you want to taste some of the feast prepared for you that will never run out!

“The body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26).

This is a very simple statement, yet it is one that men cannot really understand. Doctors have various ways of deciding when someone is really dead, but none of them is exact as to the time the person died. The person really dies when the spirit leaves the body, and only the Lord knows the exact time of that.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us that “the dust [will] return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Doctors may say that the person stopped breathing, or his heart stopped, or perhaps the person was found to be “brain dead,” but none of these are exact. The body does exhibit all these clear signs of death, but all are the result of the spirit’s leaving the body.

As we saw back in August, there is a day coming when God will unite the spirit and body again. For believers this will happen when the Lord comes to call us home, but for those who have died without Christ, it will happen at the great white throne of God’s judgment.

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).

Perhaps you and I find it hard to accept this statement, that if someone breaks only one law, he is guilty of all. We all have different ideas of how wrong it is to do certain things, and we naturally find it easy to condemn others for things that we think we would not do. But we know that we have done other wrong things that perhaps others would not do, but perhaps we do not think that what we have done is all that bad.

Think of the links in a chain. If only one link is broken, the chain is useless. It is the same with God. If we have sinned only in one way, we are guilty before Him. Also, all of us must admit that we have sinned in many ways, and not just in one way. We can be most thankful that God has provided a way to put away our sins, if we are willing to come to Him.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

As I write this in October, 2024, I was solemnized by reading in the news that a young girl named Nell Smith, whom the internet called a “musical prodigy,” was tragically killed in an automobile accident a few days ago. She was only seventeen years old. As far as her life in this world was concerned, she seemed to be very successful as a singer and was about to produce her own solo recordings for sale. She had apparently started singing publicly at the age of eleven and was “on her way” to becoming famous.

Our verse for today puts all this in perspective. Those who paid tribute to her expressed the wish that she would “rest in peace.” But where is she now? Our existence does not end with death; rather we pass into eternity, and then all that we might have had in this world does not mean anything. All that counts is whether we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.