How Ruts Become Traps

I’m going through Psalm 91, one of my favorites, reading and meditating on one verse per day.

“For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.” (Ps. 91:3 NLT)

This verse got me thinking about hidden traps. It usually starts with a habit, a routine. We fall into a rut. We follow this pattern of living or attitude for a while. Before long, we are stuck. The rut becomes a deep trap that we have dug by ourselves, climbed into, and lain down in.

The rut of busyness becomes the trap of anxiety; the rut of procrastination leads into the trap of despair; the rut of insecurity turns into the trap of fear. These destructive traps that we voluntarily fall into have long-term ramifications.

Let’s just take procrastination as an example. It seems like a harmless habit. I put off a lot of things this summer. I had lots of important things that I needed to do, like checking email, face book, writing blog posts, etc. So, I put off preparing for school. When school started, I felt a sense of despair. I felt like giving up, overwhelmed by all the tasks in front of me. The little rut that I fell into became a trap that I now had difficulty climbing out of.

Lord, rescue us from our self-created ruts. Protect us from self-destructive traps.