Looking up “snare of the fowler” from the 91st Psalm in this week’s lesson, I came across a great sermon on the subject given by Spurgeon:
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-snare-of-the-fowler/#flipbook/
He says “the snare of the fowler is generally noted for its adaptation. You do not find a fowler setting the same snare for one bird as for another; he knows his bird and he adapts his bait to it. He would be an unwise fowler who should go to work with the same machinery to catch the lark that flies on high as the duck that swims along the stream.”
I am grateful for the Bible lesson and this church for being such a great example to me of actually doing and living the work that is required to be a Christian Scientist.
I can see that the resistance I have experienced to doing a Watch is the “Snare of the Fowler.”
Just sitting down to do this work has been challenging, but I am grateful to at least be aware of how undisciplined and apathetic my thinking has been.
Unseen, silent arguments, may say “get up and do something else”, “you can’t do this”, “you don’t know how to do this,” “You aren’t good enough to do this yet,” “There are more interesting things to do,” “Someone’s texting me,” “I have no clue how to do a watch,” “The time is up now you can relax.”
Mary Baker Eddy writes on page 102 of Science and Health. “So secret are the present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare the age into indolence (Websters 1828 Dictionary: “freedom from pain, love of ease or aversion to toil.”)
She also writes on page 211 of Miscellany, “All that error asks is to be let alone.” And further “Be ever on guard against this enemy. Watch your thoughts and see whether they lead you to God…”
In Admonition and Counsel on Page 210 she writes “Good thoughts are an impervious armor: clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort…. The right thinker abides under the shadow of the Almighty. His thoughts can only reflect peace, good will towards men, health, and holiness.”
I am grateful that the lesson this week has started me off on the right foot with the 91st Psalm. And it’s a new opportunity to do a better watch.