"Trap"

I bet I know what happened,

As we sat our horses there,

Bull straddle of the hay ring,

Stood quiet, not a care.

Munchin’ and a-chewin’,

And switching his old tail,

How do you think he did it,

Hung right o’er the rail.

Bet he was feelin’ amorous,

With one of his girlfriends,

And when sure moved he got stuck,

Where he did not intend.

So we slipped two coils upon him,

So the big brute couldn’t move,

And two of us dismounted,

‘Cause it did not behoove,

A person to get close to him,

Afoot and on the loose,

‘Cause he’s the kind to chase you down,

Plain old cowboy abuse.

So two of us, we hold him,

Then two moved the ring,

Thank God, it ain’t too heavy,

It just beat everything.

The bull, he went to kickin’,

And horses circled ‘round,

But we got him off the ring,

And horseback safe and sound.

Then we had a problem,

Somehow ‘cause we forgot,

We need to get the ropes off,

So take one more heel shot.

Got the old bull stretched out,

Laid him right on down,

Got all three the ropes off,

He trots off safe and sound.

But me, I get to thinkin’,

‘Bout how we can get stuck,

‘Cause we might get distracted,

And run right out of luck.

Pretty much the devil’s work,

Is to temptation bring,

And then set a trap for us,

Just like that old hay ring.

So, Lord, keep us careful,

And faithfully ride true,

Watch out for the devil’s traps,

And always live for you.

“…But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil…” (1 John 3:f8, NLT)

No, you can’t blame everything on the devil. But, the Son of God did come to destroy the devil’s work. And what work is that? the Bible calls him the ultimate liar, destroyer, thief, killer, and above all, deceiver. No one would ever buy into the devil’s lies if he weren’t good at setting traps and deceiving people. But the good news is that Jesus came to destroy his power in our lives. There is no hurt, addiction, generational iniquity or habitual sin that the Jesus cannot heal. He replaces the devil’s influence with the power of the Holy Spirit, and graces us to live a life of freedom. May this be true for all of us in 2022 and beyond.

Lord, free us from the devil and all his traps, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Don Dane, dondane.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Don, and God bless you.