The Fish Are Biting

By Grant Gaines

I’ve never been much of a fisherman myself, but I hear that if you want to catch a fish it all comes down to the lure and bait you use.

Each species of fish have different food they like and don’t like. This means that if you want to catch catfish, bass, trout, swordfish, salmon, etc. you will need to use different baits and lures for each one. You need to know your fish, the environment they live in, as well as the time of day to determine what lure you will need to use. Once you have that information figured out, your lure decision is as easy as choosing between fishing jigs, poppers, spoons, plugs, spinners, spinner baits, surface fishing lures, blade fishing lures, buzz fishing lures, crank lures, tube lures, and vibrating lures just to mention a few.

I know that you can’t find this anywhere in the Bible, but I believe that Satan is a pretty good fisherman himself. He knows just like any good fisherman that in order to catch the fish, it’s all about the bait and lure that you use. For some of us, the bait Satan will use is the relentless drive for success to lure us away from time with our families, friends, and God. For others, Satan will use the bait of lustful passions to draw us away from faithfulness to our spouses and to our Creator. And still for others, Satan will use the bait of a comfortable and easy life to lure us away from the thrilling life of pursuing God’s will.

Whatever bait Satan uses, you can be sure that he is doing all he can to lure you away from what God has called us you. We see a great illustration of this in Joshua 8.

This chapter begins with the Israelites licking their wounds after losing a battle to the small city of Ai (Joshua 7:4-5). After the Lord had reassured His people that He would deliver Ai into their hands the following day, the Israelites marched back into battle ready to go for Round 2 against the army of Ai.

During the course of the battle, “Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel” (Joshua 8:15-17, NIV).

Ai thought that they were dominating. They thought that they were going to destroy Israel just as they had the previous day. But what the men of Ai didn’t know is that Joshua and the Israelites had set an ambush behind the city, just as the Lord had instructed them to (Joshua 8:2). So after all the men of Ai chased after the fleeing Israelites, the ambush ran into the city and destroyed everything, burning all its buildings and possessions (Joshua 8:20,22).

The city of Ai was destroyed that day because of one key word in Joshua 8:16 (NIV, bold mine), “All the men of Ai were called to pursue [the Israelites], and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city.” The men of Ai were lured away from their number one priority-to defend their cities, families, and livelihoods.

This is also what happens to us when we allow Satan to lure us away from our number one priorities. Like the men of Ai, we get caught up in the middle of a battlefield that we never intended to go to and end up looking back to see the smoke rising from that which we truly care about-our families, our children, and our heavenly Father.

I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing to take a new job, to go on a date, or run after a new hobby. However, you get in hot water when whatever you are chasing starts to lure you away from your God-ordained priorities, passions, and plans.

An easy way to decide if the option that is before you is an opportunity from God or a trap from Satan is to ask yourself this one question: Will this decision honor God? You see, Isaiah 43:7 tells us our God-given purpose on earth is to glorify God. That’s the reason you and I were made! Everything we do should be to bring Him the glory He deserves. That’s why 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV) instructs us, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

So once again, will the option that’s before you honor God? Will accepting a high-paying job that causes you to be absent from your family, community, and church honor God? No! Will randomly surfing the internet at night by yourself lead to anything that could possibly honor God? Probably not! You see, when you boil down all of your decisions to a laser-like focus on God’s glory, your decisions become pretty easy to make.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to protecting that which you love the most-your family, your church, your integrity. Protecting those is your most important job-don’t get lured away!

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