ROARING LION
“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober. Be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:6-11
That set of verses tells me the devil is on the prowl for who he can snare into his evil web of deceit and lies. He is moving and searching today.
The last few months, have shown us this in a huge tragic, painful, senseless way. Mass shootings at: a mall-a grocery store-at an elementary school-at a church-in a subway-a hospital. The number of mass shootings is climbing close to 300 since the first of this year. And there are so many other evil things that happen every day because of his deception. The war crimes of an evil leader who is trying to banish and bring a country to its knees, by senseless killings of women, children and the aged. This evil leader is hiding behind the weapons of war.
How can we possibly make sense of all this? The truth is-we can’t. In our country of the USA, our very forefathers and founders of our country built it on their faith in God. How could we have come so far from what was the glue that held our country together.
Why has God allowed these things to happen? I can honestly say, I have no idea! But what I do know is that God loves all of us and He even loves those who have made the choices and allowed the devil to come into their hearts and hold them captive into the belief that they are doing the right thing. But in reality, they are doing the devils work for him. Is this all a punishment to us, to our country? The only way it is a punishment is when people turn their backs on God and have let the devil take up residency in their hearts.
The devil can get into our hearts and minds so quickly, even at times we don’t realize it. There are times that I am praying and all of a sudden, I realize that I am thinking about what I need to get at the grocery store, instead of the words I am praying to God. The devil sees an opportunity, even a little window of time, and he devours our mind, taking our focus off God.
We are told in Matthew 5:45 “…He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” So where is God in all this? The other day, I was helping some friends of our family, moving my dad’s furniture into his new assisted living apartment. The clouds threatened rain the entire time. We were so blessed to get his furniture in and out of the truck before it started to rain. When I finally left to head home, it was absolutely drenching rain. I was exhausted and just wanted to get home. Of course, I did not have my umbrella. On the way to my car, I got sopping wet! I think if someone could have squeezed me, I would have left quite a huge puddle. My wet hair was even dripping into my face. I started to grumble because I was so tired and wet. Have you ever gotten drenched like that? This verse in Matthew, tells me that even though I am trying to live my best life following God, I am still going to get “dumped on.” I am still going to be enticed by the devil to turn my life away from God, because he is always pacing, just waiting for a hard time in my life. He devours us even at the slightest hint that we are weak and enticed to turn our backs on God. When I realized that I was grumbling, I remembered that it had not rained when my dad’s things were being moved in and out. I instead thanked God! I even thanked God that I had been sweating and now the rain had cooled my body down.
Going back to the verse we started with, look at the words I have underlined in those verses and let’s see how we can fight our way from the devil and rather towards God.
- HUMBLE “the personal quality of being free from arrogance and pride” Psalm 10:4 “the wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts.” The person who is full of pride, relies on himself and his power instead of relying on God in every situation. The humble realize it is not all about themselves but rather all about God.
- CASTING “to throw forward, as the thoughts, with a view to some determined goal” 1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” This earthly world is hard, discouraging and painful. This earthly world has the devil walking back and forth, just waiting to ensnare us. But if we stop relying on our own solutions to the pain and cast our pain forward to God to handle for us, He will help us maneuver through the trials. We need to go to Him first instead of ourselves.
- SOBER “characterized by self-control, seriousness, sound moral judgment, in one’s right mind” Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” The devil is all about us loosing control of morality. He wants us to do the things that are morally wrong. Through the ages, the devil has worked the same way. Sure, there are new inventions. There is more media presence than ever before. The devil gets our eyes full of sin, and all morality goes out the window.
- VIGILANT “watchful, wide-awake, alert” Colossians 4:10 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…” One of these days God is going to have enough. He is going to come to get those who are obedient and faithful and take us to our final home with Him. We need to be ready. But He will also bring judgment upon those who have been all about self and disobedient.
- RESIST “to exert oneself so as to counteract or defeat” James 4:7 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” When the devil throws temptation our way, he will have no choice but to go away, because we have become one of God’s warriors here on earth.
- STEADFAST “patient endurance, reliable, faithful, true to the end” Hebrews 6:19 “this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…” The verses before this tell us that God keeps His promises because He does not lie and God is all powerful. It is hard to be patient. Do you have trouble with that too? But if we are patient and faithful to the end of time or life, whichever comes first, God will take us home with Him to heaven.
Did you notice that all these words require an action on our part? We have to put on the armor of God (read Ephesians 6:10-20). The devil will always try to pull us away from the hope God has given us. He sent His Son to die on a cross for us who are sinners, to give us this hope. He is true to His promises. The devil has only promised us an eternity with him if we succumb to his lies.
So, what can we do? Is there any hope for us in this sinful world? Satan lies telling us one thing but our God tells us the truth.
Satan tells you; you are broken. God says you are healed.
Satan says you are a nobody. God says you are His child.
Satan says you have no hope. God says there is still an empty tomb.
Satan says you were a mistake. God says I made you in My image.
Satan says come with me to hell. God says follow me to eternal life.
Sometime, turn your Bible to Romans 12:9-21 and read how God wants us to live our lives. Some of the key words in those verses are: “love…serving…hospitality…bless and do not curse…do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
The devil is not the only one who looks and is looking for us. I am also calmed by the verse in Psalm 53:2 that tells us that God is always watching over us, no matter what and we have to look for Him in every situation. “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand who seek God.” God is also moving and searching.
In this time of history, we are seeing and feeling in our hearts all the horrible acts that sinful people have decided to do, because of their trust in evil. Don’t loose hope in our God. He is right beside those who sin has hurt, and holding their hands letting them know there is something much better that this life.
Don’t give into sin. Keep moving forward, one step at a time. Stay faithful. Stay away from the lies the devil tells you. God who does not lie has given us the promise of eternal life. I will close with one of my favorite verses in the Old Testament, 2 Chronicles 7:14. The key word in this scripture is “if.”
“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Till next time.
Keela