We’re stalked by an enemy hell-bent on devouring us. Peter teaches the key to resistance is to trust God’s timing. Inside: Lion-taming lessons because you CAN be UNdevourable!
Do you ever feel like you’ve been pounced on, pinned down, and pummeled?
Or maybe you know someone who fits that description.
Predator. Devourer. Deceiver.
That’s the enemy we are up against. He’s a lion who stalks.
Both Peter and James offer the same lion-taming advice: Resist and he will flee. (1 Peter 5:9; James 4:7)
But Peter goes even further, with a “How to NOT be easy prey” strategy:
“Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God
so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
casting all your anxieties on him,
because he cares for you.
Be sober-minded; be watchful.”
(1 Pet. 5:6-8a)
Trust God’s Timing
If we’re not careful, we could easily skip over a key word in this entire “don’t be the enemy’s lunch” how-to guide.
Time. Timing. At the proper time.
Peter knew this well. How often did he take “time and timing” into his own hands?
These short verses are full of powerful resistance strategies, but they all relate back to a humble view of ourselves and a complete trust in God’s timing.
So many of the enemy’s tactics are based on causing us to question God’s goodness, his power, or his timing. So wouldn’t it make sense that the secret weapon of resistance is rooted in trusting God both knows what he’s doing and cares about what’s being done to us?
A successful plan to survive on the Savannah desert of life isn’t easy, but it isn’t complicated either.
As you read these, think about how they all can be traced back to faith in your creator God who is:
Good.
Good to you.
…and…
Good at being God.
3 Keys to Resisting the Enemy
1) Don’t go to the wrong water hole
James echoes Peter’s call to humble ourselves under God:
“Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and
he will draw near to you.”
(James 4:7-8)
Did you see that?
On either side of talking about resisting the devil, James talks about submitting to God and drawing near to him.
Submission.
It’s just so … well, submissive. And most of us don’t do it naturally.
After all, Sinatra didn’t become famous by crooning, “I did it HIS way.”
We have ideas and plans and expectations about how we should be viewed, how our efforts should succeed, and how life should play out. And waiting? Who has time for that?
{Pause for a little lion lesson}
Lions are not fast creatures.
Thus, sometimes they hunt by hiding near something their prey needs (like a water hole) and just waiting for the prey to come to them.
{Back off the savannah}
Here’s the connection:
God offers a living water source, but we sometimes get antsy and venture off toward the world’s muddy hole, looking to do it our way or seeking affirmation from everyone else except the one that matters.
Because, well, God’s way requires discipline and time and effort.
Some shortcuts are good. But many are not.
Does any of this resonate?
- What about your life frustrates you right now?
- What plan can you not seem to push forward?
- Do you look at others and wonder why your efforts don’t produce results like theirs?
Any of these questions (and more) may reveal to you where you are wrestling with God’s authority instead of submitting and drawing near.
If you don’t relinquish your plans to God and surrender to HIS timing, you may find yourself on that path to the wrong water hole.
It’s well worn. Easy to reach. It also has a lion crouched nearby.
2) Tie up loose ends
In this key verse, Peter tells us to “cast all anxiety” on God. But earlier in his letter, he gave even more insight:
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober …”
(1 Pet. 1:13a; NKJV)
If we lived in the first century, we’d understand this metaphor more clearly. Everyone wore robes. If they needed to move quickly, they had to gather up the ends of their robes so they didn’t trip.
We have to pull in all the loose ends of our thinking.
Anxious thoughts are certainly a tripping hazard.
For the enemy, they are a foothold; and something he can hang onto as he drags his prey to the ground.
Anxiety is the opposite of trusting God with your life.
The adversary not only accuses us before God; he accuses God before us. If he can tempt us to doubt God’s care for us, then he will have gained a foothold full of possibilities.
This must be why Peter doesn’t just leave it at, “Cast all your anxieties on him,” but adds, “because He cares for you.”
- Are you anxious or worried or just “in a tizzy” as some of us southern women might say? What about?
- Is the issue too big for God?
- No? Then are you frustrated with how He has chosen to handle it ~ or how you can’t see Him working in it at all?
- Do thoughts cyclone around in your mind as you wonder if God even still cares?
Then you have loose ends.
Maybe it’s time to go belt shopping.
Ephesians 6:14 reminds us that truth cinches up all those loose ends.
And what is that truth?
God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.
His goodness was not created by your faith.
And it’s not suspended by your doubt.
And you can trust God’s timing.
3) Stay awake and on guard
I love this insight into how things operate in the wild:
“Prey animals are most afraid of lions when they can’t be seen.
As a result, when a lion does appear they all stare at it – so long as they can see it, and it knows that they can see it, everybody’s safe.” ¹
The idea of being watchful and alert is all over Scripture, but here’s a small sampling:
“…keep sober in spirit…” 1 Pet. 1:13 (NASB)
“Be sober-minded; be watchful.” 1 Pet. 5:8 (ESV)
“…be on the alert with all perseverance… Eph. 6:18 (NASB)
It’s the idea of being steadfast, full of self-control, correctly in charge of our priorities and not intoxicated with the world’s bait.
And perhaps most importantly?
Not swayed by our own emotions or passions.
The phrase “follow your heart” makes my skin crawl.
The enemy has convinced our society you can’t help what you feel.
And you can’t fight it either. You must just go with it.
Take your pick of the issues plaguing our culture and/or the church and you’ll find roots in this idea.
I’m just going to leave this here for now:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9)
The reality is we can fight our feelings through the power of the Spirit and the filter of God’s Word.
But we have to first acknowledge where we are vulnerable and bring that into the light before God.
- What feeling do you value more than God’s approval?
- What (seemingly small) area of your life are you holding back?
- What have you convinced yourself must be ok because it helps you cope?
Be very sure the enemy has been taking notes.
He might even be able to answer that question better than you. There are no “secret” sins, only unconfessed ones. I heard a preacher say,
“Satan isn’t interested in turning you into a reprobate.
All he wants is for you to rebel in just one area of your life.
That will allow him enough room to gain a foothold.”
So we have to be alert.
We have to know our weaknesses and daily lay them on the altar (and sometimes put them back up there when they crawl off.)
With everything out in the open before God, the enemy doesn’t have the darkness on his side.
Let’s be UNdevourable
Lions are some of the least successful predators, often opting for scavenging instead of the work of killing. ²
The same is true with this spiritual lion.
He looks for weak spots and unguarded thoughts that he can prey upon.
And sometimes he’s just happy to sashay up to the feeding trough of the self-inflicted damage we’ve done to our own souls.
Think about how this “How NOT to be easy prey” lesson ends:
“Your adversary the devil
walks about like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.”
(1 Pet. 5:8; NKJV)
Do you get the importance of those words?
“… seeking whom he may devour.”
The devil can’t just devour everyone.
If he could, he would. So he must seek opportunities.
You don’t have to be his prey.
Don’t give him the opportunity.
Obedience isn’t complicated.
But obeying?
Well, that’s another thing entirely.
Listen, this is hard.
I may have called them “simple” steps but that doesn’t make them easy.
I get it.
And I recently wrote about my struggles with losing to the enemy in a post called:
Am I in God’s Will? (5-part strategy for Christians questioning their calling)
But here’s what I want you to know.
The more I lean into the truth of the Word and trust God’s timing and that his way works, the more I come to realize how much struggle I could have avoided all these years.
It’s hard.
It’s the fight of your life.
But it’s a fight worth fighting!
¹ Source
² Source
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