Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour

 Good morning. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. There was a time when some people put down the gravity of this verse. They said that the devil was “like” a roaring lion, but toothless. However, toothless lions would not be seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. In the natural, we would run and try to hide from a roaring lion. If we could, we would try to reason with the lion, saying we will do anything that he wanted us to, just don’t eat us. Too many Christians respond to the devil in just the same way. After you have suffered for a little while (it doesn’t seem like a little while when you are going through it), the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. And so we come to the end of first Peter: to You, Father, be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

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