Traps

Take me out of the net that they have secretly set for me.

 - From Psalm 31

How modern preachers sugar-coat the Gospel. They treat people like babies. They don't want to "scare" people away. They say "Seekers wouldn't understand." 

What human doesn't understand exactly what this psalm is referencing?

People are bad! And there are a lot of them. You, and I, and everybody around us, is a potential problem for us. Even the good ones have their moments. 

The verse above suggests that we will be used, and harmed, by people we trust. When you lay a trap for a wild creature, you have to get them to trust you. You do not enter into a net, or trap, without believing it would be okay to do so. And usually, you can't even tell there's a net anywhere.

The psalmist talks about being trapped in a net, that had been secretly set for him. FOR him. The trap was customized, to ensnare the specific person that it trapped. They need to get to know you. They need to understand your patterns, your likes, and dislikes.

That's bad.

The promise of Scripture, and the Good News, is all about getting out of these bad situations that we fall into, all the time.

The Real Gospel understands that there are bad things in the world, and bad people, and that bad people do bad things; and that we are not smart enough to know where to turn next. 

But God offers protection. He can get us out of those traps. 

The traps that had been set by people we trust.