Jeremiah 50:24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord.

We have an enemy, that old serpent, Satan. He is a pretender to the throne, not a contender, a pretender. We know from the garden that he is the most subtle of beasts. One of the things that is easily lost on believers are the subtleties.

The tactics of the enemy are like but not the same as those of the Lord’s. Satan knows we cannot be taken. We know we cannot be taken. We are secure in our faith. Here is the subtlety, Satan does not seek to take us unawares, Satan seeks to keep us unawares.

The effective snare is the one that causes you to be distracted by danger. In Vietnam as soon as I saw something that caught my attention I stopped and looked immediately at my path. There would be a pitfall, a trip wire, an improvised explosive device of some kind to which I needed to find.

This subtle enemy knows the scriptures and knows the ways of God and makes this scripture a lie. There is no snare, Satan is not trying to catch us, Satan is trying to distract us. The thing that catches the eye is the distraction. He has flooded our field of vision with warning signs of dangers, so much so that we stop and look to eliminate the danger that does not exist. The distraction is the tactic.

Mark 8:17-18 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

Jesus knew, He is aware. The distractions keep us from seeking truth.

2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Have you ever been part of a bible study where you have heard the words, “I don’t see it.” Understanding does not have to be achieved for the truth to exist. This passage about Elisha is just that point. The young man didn’t see what Elisha saw. The point of the eyes of the young man seeing what Elisha saw was that the Lord is on your side and doing battle to protect you even if you do not see it.

Let me put it another way. The young man fell under the protection of the Lord even when he didn’t see it, when he had no knowledge of it. Elisha wanted to calm the fears of the young man. What would have happened if God’s answer to Elisha’s prayer had been, “No.” Would the protection have gone away just because the young man didn’t understand? No.

The eyes of understanding were opened, not because of prayer, not because of fear, not because it would change anything in that moment, they were opened according to the purpose of the will of God to reveal this one thing at this moment in time.

How do we respond to the will of God in asking for understanding and nothing comes? Do we allow it to shake our faith? Does it cast doubt? Can we find another way to look at the circumstances of the moment and seek His will rather than what we want?

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Or in other words, you do not have to wait on a perfect understanding to walk by faith.