Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8
Out of nowhere... on a day of joy... celebration... for some the summit of months of training... a roaring BOOM... devouring lives... and limbs... a tearing of flesh...
Unexpected... undeserved... unsettling...
What happened physically... revealing our world as a dangerous place... is true spiritually as well...
The enemy... he prowls... waiting to devour... hopes... dreams... relationships... rock the foundations of faith... through numerous means... cancer... car wrecks... addictions... infidelities... with a roar... a heart broken... a spirit shattered...
In places we feel safe... secure... confident...
home...
work...
school...
church...
the enemy prowls... unseen... waiting...
The words Peter places on either side of the prowling devil... bookends to surround a deadly reality....
Be sober-minded; be watchful. ...
Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:8, 9-11 ESV
(emphasis mine)
The tendency after such a horrific event is fear of the enemy... fear that calls for new security measures... people thinking twice before attending... participating in... a high-profile event...
But Jesus... He says...
"... Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ..."
Matthew 10:22
The only proper fear to foster... is fear of the Lord...
Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Psalm 34:9-10
This world is a world at war... a battleground... physically... and spiritually...
The physical... passes away... but the spiritual is eternal...
God... in all His goodness... uses the schemes of the enemy... to draw people to Himself... to save lives... eternally... As Joseph told his brothers...
"... You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. ..."
Genesis 50:20
So today... my prayer... in the wake of the roaring lion...
Father God... what the enemy has intended for harm... You intend for good... and the saving of many lives... Turn the hearts of those suffering... grieving... to You... prepare them to receive Your eternal Word of grace... mercy... life... healing... redemption... For You are good... and Your paths beyond my understanding...
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
Romans 11:33
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