Stranger ThingsSample

Don’t Get Eaten

I have never been to lion-tamer’s school (if there is such a thing), but I would have to imagine the first lesson on the very first day is “don’t get eaten.” Frankly, if I did show up to that school and that wasn’t the first thing they taught me, I’d bounce and pick a different career. If you’re going to mess around with lions for a living, you better be really sure you know how to avoid getting eaten. Because, let’s face it, eating smaller, weaker things is what lions do. They can’t help it, it’s just how they're programmed.

Now, few other passages paint as clear and intense of a picture of what our enemy, Satan, is actually like than 1 Peter 5:8. Peter says he is a roaring, hungry, intensely savage lion, just pacing around his potential prey looking for a moment of weakness or distraction that he can capitalize on. If you’ve never seen it, check YouTube for lions eating their prey…it’s savage. But what is fascinating about watching such a gruesome scene is the cleverness of the lion. Every animal they eat has defense mechanisms and knows it lives in lion territory, so it’s on high alert. The lion knows this, and waits patiently for the animal to make a mistake. And when it does…it’s over in a heartbeat. 

That’s a fairly sobering picture of our enemy, but Peter uses this imagery on purpose. Jesus told us Himself that “the thief (Satan) comes to steal and kill and destroy…” That is all Satan wants in the world - to destroy the children of God. But he won’t just walk up to you, shake your hand, and walk you off to your own destruction…he’ll be sneaky about it. And so Peter tells us to stay alert, to stand firm in our faith, to lean on Jesus and stay close to Him so that we can avoid being devoured. How are you doing with that? Have you been taking Satan seriously, or do you like to pretend he’s not really there? If a gazelle on the plains of Africa just pretended that the lion wasn’t there, things would not go well for that little guy. Don’t fall into the same trap – stay alert and stay close to Jesus. He wants better things for you than that – better things than you could even imagine – so, don’t get eaten.