Out of the Net

Psalm 25:15 …"Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net."


This metaphor is taken from fowlers, who spread nets, into which they allure and draw birds and catch them. The allurements, snares or nets, which Satan lays to catch the people of God in, are the riches and pleasures of this world, the sin of pride, lust of the flesh and so on.

Psalm 10:9 …"He lieth in wait secretly … he draweth him into his net."

As does the fowler, Satan carefully lays his plans; he conceals his purposes and his plans are hidden. Next he has his victim, who is taken by surprise and has no power of defense or escape. Satan doesn't always do the work … he has others do it for him. He doesn't care who he snares, sinner or saint; the sinner has no one to turn to for help; but the believer can look to the Lord.

"Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord" … This is an indication of the heart and mind set of the psalmist David. He had said that God leads and guides him; and now he says this was his habit. He "ever" looked … meaning he constantly looked to God as he sought His direction. In questions, doubt, difficulty, danger, even in view of future death, he looked to God as his guide.

"Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord" … Not only in the same sense that the eyes of all creation wait upon Him for their daily food and supply, in that He is the God of nature; but rather as God with whom he had a blood covenant. All his expectation was in Him alone.

David speaks of this again in …

Psalm 91:2-3 …"I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence."

Psalm 121:1-2 …"I will lift up mine eyes … My help cometh from the LORD …"

David believed … "if at any time I get entangled, the Lord will pluck my feet out of the net." The "net" were the traps which had been laid for him by Satan, whose name means …"one who lies in wait." The word "pluck" as it is used here means to "bring forth"… out of the net.

"… He shall pluck my feet out of the net …" the net, the snares, the nature of fallen man, as the writer of Hebrews 12:1 said …"every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us …" the desires that ensnares and takes captive; out of which we cannot escape … on our own.

I want to look at the word weight … "Every weight … which so easily beset us."

Weight is not speaking of sin. Sin is mentioned in the next phrase. The weight most likely today is the heaviness, the things in life that weigh us down, the things which cause us to pray in the first place. And even then the answer to prayer is slow to come; more weight. I don't know why that is, but it just is. Perhaps, God is adjusting things, changing what needs to be done in the lives of others first; even testing your faith as you wait.

God knows what He's doing. Maybe He's proving to you that you have what it takes, so you can say like David … "Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net."

The net doesn't have to be sin. It can be anything that has taken you captive, like fear or doubt, which will keep you from growing in faith and moving forward with trust in the love and peace of God.

Do you ever feel like it's all up to you, that the burden for the answer to prayer is all yours, it's up to your faith alone?

A loved one that I know was praying for "a mess" that someone she cared about was in, and asked God the following question.

"How do I pray for this particular thing?" She went on to say …

"God spoke to me and said, 'Child, do not concern yourself with how to pray over this thing. It is not for you to tell Me what needs to be done. I already know. Just come to Me with a pleading spirit and need of My hand, and I will move. Do not burden yourself with the how.' It brought such relief to my spirit. God knows it's a mess. And He already knows how to fix it."

Then she said …"Then God dropped this verse on me. Psalm 25:15b …'only He will release my feet from the snare.' Confirmation that again … it's not mine to fix."

This is why I'm writing this paper; because of what the Lord spoke to this young woman's heart as she turned her eyes to the Lord, even as David did. We need to learn this same lesson … it's up to God. Let's keep our eyes on Him.

Paul also speaks of these snares in …

2nd Timothy 2:26 …"And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."

One of the "snares" Paul is teaching Timothy about in the previous two or three verses are the controversies over ignorant questions that foster strife and breed quarrels. He is praying that they will repent and come to know the Truth; that they will perceive and become accurately acquainted with the knowledge the Truth, the printed Word; for one way …"HE"… frees us from one of the devils "Nets"… is through knowing the Word of God.

The Amplified reads …"And that they may come to their senses [and] escape out of the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him, [henceforth] to do His [God's] will." (And may I add …"instead of their own will.")

The KEY WORD in the scripture we keep using, Psalm 25:15, is …"HE." Today when we speak of God, believers usually mean Jesus, the Son of God and our Lord. Not always but usually that's who …"HE" refers to.

But notice in all of these verses by David, "the LORD" is in all capital letters; which means it's not just one part of God … it's all three persons of the Trinity.

The "HE" in David's Psalms is JEHOVAH, Almighty God, The Most High.

One of the greatest promises in the Word of God can still be claimed today; for the spoken Word of JEHOVAH GOD has been recorded in …

Isaiah 49:25 …"But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children."

I'm so glad that it's not really our fight … it's God's. He said He would "contend" with the one who lays or sets the "Net."

I believe the only fight we need to contend with is the "Good fight of Faith."

Faith; not to believe that we can change things; but rather faith that even though we can't "fix" anything ourselves … we know our God can.

"Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net."