Skip to main content

The Roaring Lion

             Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (I Peter 5:8-9)


 

Sorry, no pictures of hunting lions. Instead, it’s a hunting Wood Stork. It raises a wing as it stirs up the mud, and its prey, seeing the shadow generated by its wing flees, the stork hopes, in the direction of its beak. Similarly, a lion will roar, or sometimes show itself to its prey, and when the prey flees, it’s in the direction of one or more lions who are waiting to ambush the fleeing animals. In both cases, the apparent danger is not the real danger. The apparent danger is only the means to distract you from the real danger, and push you in its direction.

            It’s impossible to say what Peter understood about lion hunting strategies, but God understood. If you don’t respond to the lion’s roar by running away, you place yourself in danger from the lion that roared. If you do run away – in the direction the lion wants you to, you’re in greater danger. This is why we need to be sober. Being afraid makes us more easily manipulated.

            Years ago, Keanu Reeves started in the movie The Devil’s Advocate. I’m not recommending the movie because it gets rather lewd, but in it, the young lawyer (Reeves) goes to the restroom after destroying a witness and getting a “not guilty” verdict for a client he knows to be guilty and being offered a job by a high-powered attorney (Al Pacino.)  The next thing you know he gains power, wealth, and lots of sex, but his wife is haunted by visions. At the end, he’s back in the restroom. He goes out and turns down the job (as I recall it.) One understanding of the story is that Reeves’ character narrowly avoids or overcomes temptation. Some people see the story as the character actually getting “all that” and turning away. As I see it, the majority of the movie took place in the character’s imagination.

            And as I remember it, Pacino’s character smiles when his offer is rejected because as a result, Reeves’ character believes well of himself, having “beaten the devil” and shown himself “good.” In short, Reeves; character runs from the roaring lion, right into the trap of (the) pride. And… gotcha!

            Therefore, we must be alert and sober because this is where it gets interesting. Recently, I wrote about the story of the two wolves in the heart of every man, and the one that wins is the one you feed. Well, there are two lions, too. There is the roaring lion that seeks who he may devour and there’s the Lion of Judah. And the secret to escaping the former is to run toward the latter. So you need to keep an eye on where the Lion of Judah is, and to stay near Him. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more