As a writer and teacher, I generally focus on the goodness of God and how it shows itself in our daily lives. However, I am aware that we do have an enemy — the devil. Many scriptures remind us to stay on guard against him and his schemes.
Psalm 91 is full of promises picturing how God watches over us when we put our trust in Him, dwelling — residing permanently — under His protection. One of my favorites is in Verse 3. “Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler.” This has happened to me many times. A fowler uses nets, snares, or decoys — sneaky contraptions — to capture birds. Our enemy also uses sneaky tricks hoping to capture us. This usually consists of a situation we unknowingly walk into which inflicts physical, mental, or emotional harm. How many times have you said, or heard someone say about some problem, “I sure didn’t see that coming!”
I recently checked into a Surgery Center for a knee replacement. My primary care doctor had cleared me as safe for surgery. I had documented test results to prove it, including two EKGs. But when the technicians were prepping me for the operation, they noticed some irregularity in my heartbeat and “just to be on the safe side” ran another EKG. Instead of line up with the first two, it revealed that I was having an episode of AFib, something of which I had no previous record. So, instead of going under the knife that day, I went into an ER facility and then to the hospital.
Ten hours of IV medication and bed rest brought my heart “out of AFib.” I was released a few hours later with prescriptions for pills to keep it from recurring. Further testing needs to assure that the condition is being managed and I’m out of danger before I can reschedule the knee replacement. The cardiologist explained that AFib left untreated can allow blood to settle in the lower chambers of the heart, instead of being circulated to the body, and it can form clots. If a clot gets loose and finds its way to the brain, the result is a stroke. Because AFib symptoms are not always obvious, many people do not learn they have it until it causes a stroke.
I was unknowingly heading for a stroke, but God rescued me from that snare. Isaiah 54:17 declares that no weapon formed against us will prosper, because we can condemn it. This is our heritage as servants of the Lord. Luke 10:19 says Jesus gave us the authority over all the power of the enemy. An eventual stroke was a weapon the enemy was forming against me, but how could I condemn it if I didn’t even know it was there?
But God knew it as there. He used my desire for a new knee to get me in the right place at the right time to, as my dad would say, “Head ‘er off at the pass.” AFib was caught and treated before causing a stroke, delivering me from a deadly trap that was set for me. The weapon was condemned and destroyed like a missile shot down midair. All glory goes to God for this latest evidence of His goodness at work in my life.