A Prowling Lion

 

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

—1 Peter 5:8-9

Nearly 40 years ago, I visited “Lion Country Safari” in West Palm Beach, Florida. We drove around in our vehicle with a cassette tape recorder that narrated each portion of the park. At one point, we entered an area with a 14-foot heavy chain link fence with barbed wire on the top. An electrically operated gate closed behind us. From the narration on the tape we realized we had entered the area of the park devoted to the lions.

These big cats are even more ferocious when you see them free to roam in the open ground than they are when you see them inside cages at a zoo. Their powerfully muscled bodies ripple with energy.

We watched as they lazed in the sun. Then, one lion suddenly jumped up and quickly ran into the bush. The lion moved so fast that her form appeared as a blur. It was then that I realized how totally fearsome these beasts really are.

It is no accident that the Apostle Peter likens our enemy, Satan, to a prowling lion. Take note of what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:8-9:

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Not many years after my visit to “Lion Country,” I listened to my spiritual mentor, Dr. David R. Mains, preach a sermon on this passage of Scripture. In three successive days on his radio broadcast, The Chapel of the Air, Dr. Mains shared a detailed look at these verses.

Over the course of the three messages, he developed a key sentence from the three ideas in these two verses of Scripture: “Satan’s desire is to destroy, our opportunity is to overcome, and God’s endeavor is to equip.”

In actuality, this key sentence does, indeed, provide great insight into our daily plight as believers in the life-transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan does want to utterly destroy us. But, with the temptations that Satan brings into our pathway, God has given us an opportunity to overcome those temptations through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

How? We take the opportunity to overcome by making the choice to activate that third phrase in the key sentence. We purposefully allow the Holy Spirit to equip us to bypass the temptation and give our wills completely to God. By bending our selfish desires to His perfect desire for us, we overcome temptation, close the mouth of the prowling lion, and experience victory.

Here at the start of a new day, let’s recognize the Evil One for what he is—a destroyer, a deceiver, and a roadblock to our spiritual formation. Then, let’s rely on the Holy Spirit to give us power to overcome the temptations that Satan brings our way.

 

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