Read with Me
1 Peter 5:8-11 (HCSB)
Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him and be firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.
Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little. The dominion belongs to Him forever. Amen.
Listen with Me
It is vital for all God’s people that we understand that the enemy of our souls is not a passive “dark force” that waits for foolish people to fall in. He is a personal, malevolent creature who is actively trying to cause the fall and destruction of those who have given themselves to the Lord.
But it is also vital that we understand that, like a hungry, roaring lion, the enemy rarely attacks the strong. Instead, he roars to send the whole group into flight, and then attacks those that are shown to be weak, the stragglers, attacking them without mercy and often taking them down.
The secret to resisting the devil is to never allow ourselves to become weak, distracted, or stragglers. Thus, Peter’s admonition to continue to be self-controlled and alert. That way we can be aware of when the enemy is active and can stand firm.
Peter urges his readers to resist the devil, especially in times of persecution and suffering, when it seems that it would be easiest to capitulate and fold to the pressure. In James 4:7, God’s people are also urged to resist the devil, and are given the promise that if we do, he will flee from us just as he did when Jesus stood up to him and ordered him to depart. However, even Jesus understood that he would come back at what he considered to be a more opportune time (Luke 4: 13).
Peter closes his instruction with a solid promise that he himself had seen fulfilled during his own sufferings over the years: after only a short time of testing, God Himself will strengthen and restore us, so that we can move past the test successfully and enter a new phase of being firm, steadfast, and productive for His kingdom.
Pray with Me
Father, I have watched this very dynamic work itself out in my own life over many cycles: testing, followed by resistance, sometimes over quite a long period, followed by relief and restoration. And after every test I have come forth stronger, more confident in Your ability to sustain and rescue, and more sure of my direction. Thank You that, although I will never get past my vulnerability to times of trial and testing, I will also never get beyond Your ability to save me to the uttermost, and to give me a solid place on which to stand. Amen.