This Day in History: 0000-03-11

March 11 – 1 Peters 5: 8-11 

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.  Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation.  All power to Him forever! Amen. 

Are you alert and on guard today?  It can be so easy to forget the urgency of the battle that is being waged all around us.

Have you ever watched one of those predator vs. prey nature shows and seen the way a lion hunts?  Have you ever noticed that many of the animals which fall victim to this ferocious stalker are far faster creatures?  They should be able to get away, but instead they are devoured.  Why?  Well, for starters, it’s because the lion is a very sneaky and patient animal.  It will take as much time as it needs to lure its prey into a false sense of safety and then, it will pounce. The foolish and unsuspecting animal barely has time to notice it is being hunted before it’s being torn apart.

Beyond that, though, the lion has a way of intimidating its prey into believing it can’t win, it can’t get away, and so it doesn’t even really try.  It is easy to understand, then, why our own enemy is compared to this crafty, intimidating hunter!  He will prowl around, stalking us for as long as it takes.  He will convince us that we can’t get away, so why try?  He will use whatever He needs to use to devour us! 

Do you know what’s interesting about a lion though?  As long as the prey stays alert, (especially if they are in a group that is alert) and keeps their sights fixed on the enemy, the lion will rarely attack.  Is it any wonder, then, that these verses direct us to stay alert?  They exhort us to stand firm and be strong in our faith.  They offer solidarity because we aren’t the only ones going through these trials.  Whatever it is the enemy is using against us, he is using against many others, all over the world.  Just like a zebra, or a warthog attempting to evade a lion, our chances of survival are better with numbers.

Let’s find our pack and keep watch together!  Let’s stay alert.  Let’s link arms and stand firm in the strength God gives us through our immovable faith!  Most importantly, let’s remind each other of the sweet promises that wrap up these verses.  The story does not end with us being torn apart.  No, friends, our enemy doesn’t win.  Our victorious Lord has promised that after we have suffered a little while He will restore us.  He will support and strengthen us! He will lift us out of our trials and set us on a firm foundation!  We are His dearly loved children, and in His kindness He has called us to share in His eternal Glory through the saving power of Jesus Christ!  So let’s stay alert!