Proverb 1:18

“but these men lie in wait for their own blood;
they set an ambush for their own lives.”

When we walk in sin, we set out traps for our own steps. Sin ensnares us. 

Here, in verse 18, we see the return of three little words “lie in wait”. Back in verse 11, they referenced the lying in wait as a precursor to the shedding of innocent blood. 

This time, it refers to the shedding of one’s own blood. As if to say that when you’re out to slay another, the harm is really done in your own vicinity.

This week, we fell prey to another terrorist attack. Another tragedy in our homeland. This time it was Boston, where two bombs were detonated. The cruel incident left three dead, hundreds more injured and launched a suspenseful manhunt for two radicalized suspects. The day after the bombing, an MIT officer was shot and killed after responding to a call on campus. Reporters called the act “an ambush” and said that the officer was “killed in cold blood.”

Here we have a prime example of what sin is like. It’s deadly. It’s deceptive. It secretly lurks in the dark and lunges at its unsuspecting victim. It feeds off of its own energy and multiplies. 

Before one suspect was killed and the other in custody, the two managed to: set off two bombs in a well-populated public place, murder an innocent officer in cold blood, engage in multiple shootouts with officers and attempt to set off several other IEDs. The battle grew with intensity every step of the way as law enforcement honed in on the lone surviving traitor.

The tables had turned. The perpetrators who preyed on innocent people became the targets of an extreme manhunt.

They set an ambush against themselves. They fell prey to their own traps.

I might be quick to question how one could conduct a surprise attack against oneself.
Oh, but how quickly this happens after I’ve tasted the lethal sweetness of sin. 

I get swept off my feet and drown in a wave of seduction. And after the storm settles, I look at the damage and question how it all happened. The lure of sin ensnares me. And I put up a fight like a fish being reeled to shore when I realize that I’ve been caught and must face the ramifications. Yet somehow I continually fall into the trap of believing I can only engage in the pleasures and numb my ears to the warnings signs of pain and destruction.

Like the end result for the Boston terrorists, I will not escape the law. Justice will be served. And I will fall prey to my own trap when I choose to dabble in sin.