Why are traps set? They want to capture something. 2 Timothy 2:26 says of those entrapped by satan, “And that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

Through salvation we have escaped satan’s slave block to sin. Psalm 124:7 says, “Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped.” 

Proverbs 1:17 says, “Surely, in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.” All of satan’s wiles to recapture us are hidden. There is never a visual sign of warning. Psalm 106:26 was written about the children of Israel. It says, “They served their idols, which became a snare to them.”

God warned them many times that if they adopted the gods of their enemy that they would be ensnared. 1 Corinthians 10:6 says, “Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.”

One area that our flesh lusts for is control. It is an insidious trap which means: proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects. That is exactly how we become ensnared through mental dialogues.

The mental dialogue, of trying to figure something out that only God knows, is like the hamster in a wheel. Our mind goes round and round, spending emotional energy and getting nowhere other than further entrapped.

Remember that in Ezekiel 14 the Lord told the folks that when they came to Him with an idol in their heart, He would cause the idol to speak to them. Why would we continually try to figure something out in our mind that is futile activity? It feeds our fleshly desire to know. Our heart idol of mental dialoguing lies to us. It is a distraction.

The Lord is the only One who is All Knowing. In Him is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, according to Colossians 2:3. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Proverbs 2:7 says that He stores up wisdom to those who are walking in His righteousness. That is, we are seeking to conform our thoughts, purpose, and actions to His will. When we follow the dictates of our flesh we are acting foolishly.

2 Corinthians 5:18 says, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” Verse 21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 

We are called to be reconcilers. That means that we need to develop a greater sensitivity to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Distractions pull us away from His purpose. How can we hear unless we are attentive?

A mental inner dialogue, with the hopes of figuring something out, dulls our sensitivity. It is satan’s counterfeit to God’s way of meditating on Scripture. It sows weed seeds that grow to choke out God’s word. 

Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2-3 says that the Lord will prosper those who meditate. The Hebrew thought for meditating is to quietly repeat the Scripture in a soft, droning sound, while utterly abandoning outside distractions.