I called out to her to stop. She had started to run across the yard toward me. Her path was going to take her under the arrow’s course. Did she hear me holler the first time? I don’t know.

She kept running. I yelled again. Louder. More insistently.

Finally. She stopped. And listened to my further instructions.

Why didn’t she stop sooner? I don’t know.

Do I listen as well as I wanted her to listen to me?

“Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?” (Proverbs 8:1).

How attentive am I to wisdom and understanding?

Sometimes I don’t hear them at all.

I must pay better attention.

Almost always, Satan hides the hook inside delicious bait. The unwary and incautious fish sees the worm but not the line (or the hook). He hurries to the bait, not knowing he may well pay with his life.

Or as Proverbs 7:23 puts it:

“Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.”

What delights will Satan offer me today?

And what hooks and snares will he hide within them?

Oh to be wise and understanding, for they will keep me safe (4,5)!

And obedience to God’s Word and ways bring life:

“Keep my commandments, and live” (2).