Trap doors. The universe is full of them. C.S.Lewis understood that when he wrote a little children’s story about a simple, homely wardrobe in an abandoned upstairs room that became the entryway to another world. This was no mere literary device on his part, to get Lucy from England to Narnia; there is something deep and spiritual afoot.

Ted Bundy, hours before they executed him in Florida, told James Dobson about the trap door that got him: pornography. He was just a kid of 12, and he and his buddies found a magazine in the alley in his neighborhood. Why Satan’s door will suck in one and not another is a mystery. But he has lots of different trap doors.

There are the notorious ones — internet porn, the bottle, the slots casino, astrology. But there are unlikely ones too — prescription pain medicine, the mall, love of horses, a love of art collecting. Makes no difference to Satan. “Soft underfoot” is as good as suicide.

I have known of men who fell through trap doors never to be heard of again. But by God’s grace, I have known of men who fell through trap doors, and after getting beat up by Satan for years, were graciously rescued by God.

God provided other trap doors, so that they stumbled into grace unawares. Some of those grace doors were unlikely too. Like prison. Which Satan no doubt meant as a trap for his kingdom, but which God co-opted for his own kingdom. Praise His unsearchable wisdom and mercy!

I wasted the whole mile walk today not praying. I was in the stranglehold of a sinful meditation. I’ve got to pull myself out of this pit before I can even pray, I thought; I can’t come to God in this condition.

I wonder what Judas was thinking just after he stumbled out of the upper room. We know he had remorse — he didn’t take the thirty pieces of silver but threw them into the temple. Maybe he was thinking like me: “I can’t come to God in this condition. Gotta get myself right before I come. Gotta sulk a while. Gotta keep a respectful distance a while. I’ll look shallow if I come running back right away.”

Satan can do no better than that: Get the vermin thinking God won’t accept them till they pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Get them thinking God needs a “cooling off period.” Every fiber of my flesh tells me the same.

What I need to do is take sides with Scripture against my own feelings. All this sinful junk of mine is paid for, the written code canceled, cash on the nail (Colossians 2:14). More than that, sin will no longer master me (Romans 6:14). Lord, I am in the grip of a sinful meditation; I come naked, wretched, poor, and blind (Revelation 3:17). I don’t want to wait till a better time; help me NOW!

“All the fitness He requires is to know your need of Him.”