The One Who Prowls

There are good lions, and there are bad lions.

The good ones are fun to watch on the  Lion Whisperer’s website—huge jungle beasts playing affectionately with Kevin Richardson like oversized kitties. Makes you want to have one in your backyard.

The bad ones, of course, are the man-eating variety depicted well in the movie The Ghost and the Darkness—a true to life tale about a couple of crazed cats that terrorized a Kenyan village at the turn of the last century—viewer discretion advised 😉

And spiritually speaking, the Bible tells us there’s a Good Lion, the one from the tribe of Judah (as Jesus is called), who roams the earth looking for someone to bless.

But there’s another lion on the loose, the Scripture tells us. And this one prowls about looking for someone to destroy.

That’s how Peter describes him—the devil; the fallen angel, Lucifer, whose heart became proud on account of his beauty (Ezekiel 28:17). And he made himself the enemy of God, and our enemy, too.

It’s one of the more sobering verses in the Bible:

Your enemy (you, who are reading these words), you, have an enemy; it’s the devil, and he’s stalking in the shadows like a lion hoping to turn some duped soul into his next meal!

He devours using lies.
He destroys using temptation.
He defeats using deception.

So what are we to do?

The Bible gives (at least) five strategies for protecting your life from the one who’s hoping to destroy it. And four of those strategies are listed right here in the extended passage.

1. Self-control will prevent you from yielding to his insidious temptations. He can prompt all day long, but if you have that fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in your heart, you will control yourself and stay the course.  For “whoever strays from the path of wisdom comes to rest in the company of the dead” (Proverbs 21:16).

2. Being spiritually aware will keep you from being deceived. Like Proverbs 1:17 says: How useless to spread a net where every bird can see it!  Yeah, if you can see the trap set before you, you’re not likely to step into it… right?  But when’s the last time we assessed our spiritual lives looking for a  satanic snare of some kind?

3. Staying humble prevents the devil from using us to cause trouble. Humble people aren’t easily offended and don’t overreact to annoyances. It’s people with pride who like to  gossip, cause division, and wind up doing the adversary’s work for him by hindering the work of the Lord in the congregation of the righteous.

4. “Resist him” is a good word! It shows that (a.) not only are we able to resist, but that (b.) as we do, Satan “flees!” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7). That’s encouraging.

And Jesus modeled how we are to resist:

5.  Use the Word as a weapon, like He did. Three times the devil tempted Jesus to sin and three times Jesus fired back with the Word of God.

It is written in Deuteronomy 8:3.
It is written in Deuteronomy 6:13.
It is written in Deuteronomy 6:16.

Jesus quoted, and Satan bolted.

And if the Son of God used Scripture to deal with the enemy, it’s probably a good idea for us, too!

It’s that easy—the Word of God is powerful and effective and is available 24-7 to defend you and me from him who wishes to do us harm.

So next time the spiritual murderer (John 8:44) comes prowling in your vicinity, do what Jesus did: Stand on the Word of God.

And watch him run away.