Tuesday-On the Prowl

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8

For some reason, some people have a hard time believing that we have an enemy. That there’s someone out there who wants nothing but the very worst for us. That takes delight and pleasure when their plans bring us pain and failure.

What makes me say this is that these very same people believe that there’s a force out there that’s going to make everything work together well. That all we have to do is “think good thoughts” and life will be happy. That health will be restored. That things won’t go “bump” in the night.

But the fact is that most of the world believes in someone who is evil and is working against people. This belief in the devil may not be popular in the United States, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

So, just who is this devil? They are trying their best to trip us up by throwing things in our way. They like nothing more than to criticize to bring us down. They will throw insults at us all day long. Even if it is true, their intent is hurt us and our reputation. They have nothing but open hostility for us.

And they aren’t at all lazy or passive about this either. Our enemy isn’t sitting in some devilish Dunkin Donuts sipping on an iced latte while eating some hashbrowns. Not on your life. They are presently and actively walking around our lives, looking for a weakness to poke at. To take advantage of.

This prowling isn’t for them to walk all around us just get their number of steps in each day. It has a purpose. The goal is to destroy us. Think about a lion that brings down its prey and starts eating it while the animal is still alive[1]. That’s what the devil wants to do to you and me. To our family and loved ones. To everyone.

Just so you know, this isn’t some new idea. It’s as old as there have been people on the earth. After Abel’s sacrifice is accepted by God, Cain gets angry because his wasn’t. God comes to him and tells him and us an important truth

But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

Genesis 4:7

You might not think it’s true, but God says that sin is hiding right by the place where we are. Right outside our door. And it has one goal – to have us. To change us. To destroy us. To take us down. To make us fall.

This is why Peter tells his readers and us that we have things that we can do to protect ourselves. There are two very important things that we need to be actively doing all the time. We need to have our guard up each and every day. Each and every minute.

• Alert. The only way to see an attack coming is to be watching all the time. We can’t let our guard down for a minute. We must stay awake so we can see the enemy before they’re on top of us. We need time while they’re still far away to be ready for their attack.

• Sober mind. We need to be self-controlled in our thinking. This just isn’t possible when we’re under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Saying the words “Just say No” aren’t enough. And while this starts with a sober mind, it also includes keeping our mind and spirit from “intoxicating” teachings.

If you’ve ever been in a zoo when a lion roars, you know what I’m talking about. There’s this lightning bolt that shoots up your spine and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Like a roaring lion, our enemy is out to scare us. To confuse us. To make us run in circles. To act out of fear and not what we know.

And that’s exactly what our enemy wants to do to you and me. He wants to act out of fear. To jump to conclusions without looking or thinking it through. They want us to just start running but without any destination. To use up all sorts of energy without any plan on how to escape.

So, what are we going to do? Are we going to let the lies and accusations of the devil throw us off from who God’s in the process of making us into? Will the sound of the enemy throw us into confusion and run in circles?

Yes, the devil is on the prowl. He’s walking around to destroy us. And he’ll just keep walking around and around until he’s got his sights on someone weak. And then, after he’s focused on us, he only has one goal. To kill us and then eat what’s left. To turn us from someone who’s living for God into a dead corpse that’s good for no one. Good for nothing. So, when the enemy comes, and he’s coming like a freight train, we have a choice. What are we going to do? Are we going to run in circles or run to the one who can and will always protect us. Defend us. We need to run toward the one who will never abandon us. Why? Because he was willing to die for us.

Noodling Questions

• Describe a time when the enemy was on the prowl, trying to take you down.

• Explain how someone you know was able to escape from the enemy.

• On a daily basis, how often do you think about our enemy? Explain why.

[1] https://youtu.be/INcW26-iyqU?si=Lc6FMf3uHfZXstv9&t=19