Soul Trap

Some weeks you feel like the world is winning the battle, but your heart knows the end of the story. And so we travel that distance with the hope that sustains us toward the victory… 

A trap is suppose to easily lure and once in, it’s very difficult to get out. Traps are placed in hiding and intended to catch us off guard. One may innocently walk into a trap or it may entice and allure over time. Once it has gotten a hold, it doesn’t like to let go. A couple of days ago a video crossed my Facebook feed of a wolf that had inadvertently walked into a trap…It innocently walks across the trap and the mechanical spring shuts suddenly; it is caught by surprise. It twists and pulls to no avail. It continues to struggle, but in time the wolf will realize nothing will change given these circumstances. There was an immediate response of struggle to the trapping, in the hopes that the struggle would bring freedom. The grip on the wolf’s paw is uncompromising and the outlook, bleak. The struggle continues.

As the video plays on, two men approach to try and free the wolf from its’ demise. One stood watch with a rifle and the other approaches the wolf shielding himself with a sheet of plywood to create a barrier between himself and the wolf. The wolf does not trust and he lunges at the rescuer, but the man perseveres and continues his approach until he is able to reach the trapped animal. The other man stands watch in case his friend’s life becomes threatened. As you can imagine, the video plays out with the release of the wolf. The man behind the plywood is able to reach the wolf and stoops down to release the paw. The wolf is freed and instantly, without hesitation, runs away.

Some traps are hidden so well, we are completely caught off guard. Others entice and draw us in. They both have the same purpose and outcome, to lure and take possession. The traps of the world look enticing and of course alluring. They are shiny, captivating and they tug at us. Maybe we are lured because we feel we are missing out, after all, everyone else seems to have taken the world up on its offers. The offerings appear to promise exactly what we are looking for, or at least what we believe we are looking for – love, acceptance, attention, a savior (with a lower case s), satisfaction, comfort, prestige, perfection, self-gratification, pleasure, etc. Something inside is longing and the world appears with its alluring offer, albeit a substitute, nothing more than a counterfeit, which tries to replace the authentic.

Our soul longs. It longs for something more than what we can tangibly express or that can be satisfied tangibly. Something deep within thirsts for more. It always has and it always will. And with that longing and that thirst comes a desire for fulfillment. There lies the hidden soul trap of the world. Alluring and yet not satisfying. Captivating but only temporarily. Promising but falls short. What lies in the middle of the trap? What has the world placed as a substitute to curb your soul’s longing? Power? Prestige? Perfection? Self-gratification? Comfort? The list goes on. I ponder my own trappings…

It is always easier to see the splinter in someone else’s eye than the log in my own. The trappings, I see for others, but what about mine. The traps stay hidden. The capture pending. The struggle intense. All the while, the freedom is available, the longing satisfied, but will I allow the Savior, who will risk all, to get close enough to set me free.

My soul longs because it was created to long. It longs to be filled, to be fed, to be held, to be comforted, to be satiated by the intangible that the world cannot offer and will never be able to offer. So I ask the One who risks all for me to be free, to reveal where I am trapped, where I have bought the counterfeit offer and to show me how to long for Him the way He longs for me, so my soul will be satisfied.

“For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” Psalm 107:9

“Our longing is an echo of the divine longing for us. Our longing is the living imprint of divine desire”
John O’Donohue – Eternal Echoes