Job 18:7-8

7 The steps [tsa`ad] of his strength ['own] shall be straitened [yatsar], and his own counsel [`etsah] shall cast him down [shalak].

8 For he is cast [shalach] into a net [resheth] by his own feet [regel], and he walketh [halak] upon a snare [sabakah]. KJV-Interlinear

7 'His vigorous stride is shortened, And his own scheme brings him down. 8 'For he is thrown into the net by his own feet, And he steps on the webbing. NASB

A long time ago we studied the principle that making good decisions will open many doors of opportunity, and making bad decisions will close doors of opportunity.

That applies to life in this world. You can go along in life, making one bad decision after another, and still have some opportunities available to you. However, here we learn that in the spiritual life, making bad decisions all of your life, namely ignoring your spiritual life, will eventually eliminate all doors of opportunity.

And not only does the spiritually indifferent person lose opportunities in life, but they lose them of their own choice. People walk freely and knowingly into their own destruction.

God is truth. Truth opens up doors of opportunity and provides the foundation and environment of freedom and liberty to make you independent from the obstacles and barriers of life.

Lies are the opposite of truth. Lies serve to disorient a person, limiting their ability to see and discern life clearly. Indifference to truth is a matter of choice. Everyone knows the fundamental truths of life. Everyone knows the fundamental rights and wrongs of life. No one has any excuse for what they think, say, or do in life.

Terrorists, for example, know the fundamental principles of right and wrong. They know what murder is. They know what theft is. They know what respect is.

But the culture in which they grow up in, gives them the convenient excuses to make virtually anything they want to do, right. They can kill, and rape, and steal to their hearts content. All they need is an enemy and a belief to justify their actions. And anyone who disagrees with them becomes a convenient enemy. Religion gives them that publicly acceptable belief.

But right is right and wrong is wrong. There is no alternative combination to make each of these into the other.

And so unbelief in Christ limits the unbeliever to the beliefs promoted by the world. Carnality, or remaining out of fellowship, or indifference toward ones spiritual life, limits the believer to beliefs promoted by the world. Both choose the world and both are then controlled by the world.

Both walk into the traps and snares of the lies of the world, with their eyes wide open. They see the traps, they see the snares, and they still walk right into them.

They walk with their vigorous stride. They pursue lies with the vigor of a charging predator. They know the truths promoted by the Bible, but they ignore them and invent their own beliefs and life styles for life. They pretend and they justify their thoughts and actions.

'If no one catches me [the criminal], or if no one is harmed [the self-righteous], and so forth then it must be ok.'

Most animals being hunted, have to be driven into the trap. Most animals when they suspect a trap, will avoid it. But in the case of spiritually ignorant humanity, the traps of lies are clearly visible and yet they walk right into them.

Truth comes from God. Access to truth comes through Bible doctrine and the spiritual life. Truth provides clarity of thought and orientation to life. This yields freedom and that leads to prosperity, and that leads to security, and that leads to happiness and contentment.

Rejecting truth eliminates all of these blessings.

Psa. 9:16

In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared. NASB

Psa. 64:8

8 So they will make him stumble; Their own tongue is against them; All who see them will shake the head. NASB

Now is the time to post a prayer.