Text: Psalms 91:3
For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
There are few things that can end the life of a man prematurely. Two of them are:
1. Premeditated attack: planned, intentional, intended, deliberate, calculated, cold blooded, conscious, wilful, on purpose, prearranged, preconceived, considered, studied, purposive.
The case in Old Bailey in London of two wicked guys that killed a soldier in London is an example. The soldier (Lee Rigby) was not even in uniform. He was casually walking back to base when he became a victim of premeditated attack. The two wicked guys were waiting in the shadows, as soon as they saw Lee; they considered him to be a good target.
Premeditated attack will not tamper with your life in Jesus name.

2. Natural disaster: major adverse event resulting from the natural processes of the Earth e.g. flood, volcanic eruptions, earthquake, tsunami, etc. According to Wikipedia, in 2012, there were 905 natural disasters with US£170 billion loss, out of which US£70 billion were insured. With several thousands of lives lost.
May you not be a victim of nature and its powerful elements in Jesus name.

David was a man that experienced both; but God delivered him. He could then boldly say that surely, God will deliver us. King Saul deliberately sought the life of David for close to 13 years.
Absalom, his son intentionally sought to kill David his father too. David 600 friends at a time thought it was better to end his life once! All these time and more, God delivered David.
May that same God deliver you from deliberate attacks on your life in Jesus name.

God on certain occasions delivered David from wild beasts, for many years he lived in caves and stronghold, where drought prevail. No water or food for their families. Again, God was merciful to him. May the Almighty God be merciful to you also.

Psalms 124:6-7
Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!

The children of God are like birds been chased about by the snare of the fowler. Birds will normally be moving around, singing to God and having fun, and as well as looking for what to eat and who to have friendship with. Unknowing to the bird, fowlers are hiding for it and snares had already been set. It will take the special mercies of God for such bird to escape the snare talk less of the snare to break.
For every snare that has been set for you, may God cause you to escape.
May the snare even break so it will be useless forever in Jesus name.

The snare for the bird is a trap which can trigger off and enclose the bird.
For us as Christians, this could be the world system we live in, it could be craftiness of Satan, it could be pleasure that our flesh desires, it could be an orchestrated move designed to make us fall. I pray that none will succeed against you in Jesus name.

Who is a fowler? A professional bird catcher. He catches to eat and to sell. If he domesticates at all, it is to use such domesticated birds as baits to catch other ones. He has no good interest of the bird at heart.
May God deliver you from those that want to kill what might be your egg or chicks.

Our chief fowler is the devil.
John 10:10 gave his job description: it is to steal, kill and destroy.
He will not achieve any in your life.

He will first come as a roaring lion (I Peter 5:8), – so be sober and vigilant – if he fails to succeed, he will change and come as a subtle serpent (Gen. 3:1). Like he did for Samson (Judges 14:5-7; 16:18-19). Whether the devil comes to you as a lion or a serpent, God will surely deliver you.

At times, after working with demons and not successful, Satan may enter into people and send them to you as fowlers. People that will deliberately set traps for you with the intent of making you fall. At times, these will be people you will never have imagined.
Jeremiah 5:26
For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.
May such fowlers lying in wait for you be greatly disappointed. May they waste all their time and resources.

The snare of the fowler is deadly and carefully done. It is usually set without the knowledge of the bird.
Proverbs 1:17
For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird,
The challenge is we don’t know what the enemy has done. How it would have made a difference if a Job knew what the devil was doing to him. But he didn’t.
No matter how concealed the snare that has been set for you is, you will not be caught.

The type is determined by the intended bird to catch. They fowler does not like trial and error. He uses what he knew would work. No small snare for big bird.
There is always bait in every snare. Something pleasurable will be on offer. Smoking, drinking, fornication, anger, revenge, reckless spending, etc. You will not fall for any.

How does God deliver us from snares?
God may make us go through trying times that will help us to focus on Him rather than been idle. If David had gone to war with his people, he would not have fallen for Bathsheba.
Are you going through a tough time? It may just be a way out of a snare around you. Trust God for your way of escape.

God helps us with the power to resist entering the snare. Though we put up the strong will to say no. But God had worked on us overtime to build our resistance to the dictates of the snare. As Joseph worked for Potiphar, God has been helping him to build a resistance to the snare Potiphar’s wife would later set for him.
As we submit to God, we will be able to resist the devil and he will flee from us.

Pestilence is high deaths resulting from epidemic disease, plaque, war, famine, flood, drought, etc.
Psalms 91:5-6
You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

Pestilence does not normally announce its coming. Certain natural disasters just come without much notice and lives are wasted. Jesus makes us to know that it’s only His mercies that can deliver from such.
Luke 13:4-5
Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
In all your living on earth, may you and your family not become a victim of flood, earthquake, volcanoes, landslide, house collapse, house fire, plane crash, tsunami, cyclone, tornadoes, etc.

Prayers
Father, deliver me from every snare of the fowlers
Father, save me from the pestilence of life.

Sermon delivered on December 1, 2013 Thanksgiving Service.