It has been almost a week since I have written a blog about God’s creation. I guess the Holy Spirit thought it was time. Lol. So, He led me to take a deeper look at the lion. Out of all of God’s creatures, the lion is far from my favorite. I am not sure why. Perhaps, it is because they are so ferocious. But they are created by God with purpose. And they really are a very beautiful creation. The male has that exquisite mane. And those little cubs are just as adorable as they could be. I was extremely surprised to find that they are not tremendous hunters! For a myriad of reasons, their hunts often come away fruitless. They sometimes survive because they flee, resist, and (on rare occasions) they might even repel them.
The lion has a bite strength of 650 lbs per square inch. Their average length is 6 feet and the average weight is approximately 400 lbs. And, despite weighing 400 lbs, the average top speed a lion can run is 50 miles per hour.
Looking at those statistics, you would think that they would be keen hunters. Yet, they actually obtain their prey only 30% of the time when they hunt in pairs. There are several reasons that they lack tremendous precision when hunting.
Even though lions can run nearly 50 miles per hour, they can only run that fast in short bursts. Because they have relatively small lungs and hearts, they lack the stamina to run after their prey for more than 600 feet. In fact, if a lion chases down prey and misses, he will give up. He doesn’t typically attempt to chase down that prey again. And that’s probably because his stamina doesn’t allow it.
Because of their inability to run long distances, lions typically stalk their prey. This seems to be an effective way for a lion to catch his food… unless, of course, the lion fails to account for wind direction. For some odd reason, lions often hunt upwind and thereby alert their prey that they are coming.
The lion will stalk prey of any size. They will stalk everything from rodents to an elephant.
When the lion does actually stalk their prey downwind, they sneak up on it, attacking from the side or from behind, and catching it unaware. In this instance, the lion catches its prey approximately 30% of the time. This usually results in the lion’s prey being devoured.
All this study of the lion brings us to our scripture verse. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8.
This verse compares our enemy, the devil, to a roaring lion. When I read this verse, the image of a lion anxiously pacing back and forth, salivating over the thought of its prey, came to mind.
The enemy seeks those whom he may devour. It is a fact. And very much like the lion, he is equal opportunity minded. He is not partial to size, race, color, species, or religion.
For the enemy, there are only two types of prey. His prey consists of those who know the Lord and those who don’t.
He stalks those who don’t know the Lord in hopes of keeping them from ever knowing Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
But his preferred prey are the followers of Christ. Those who do know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior are particularly appealing to him for several reasons. The first reason he stalks those who do know Jesus is to lure them away because they will be less pleasing to God if they fall back into sin. When this happens, it brings him great satisfaction.
Another reason that he prefers followers of Christ is that we become less effective for God. When he lures us back into sin, we become a lesser testimony for God. So, he devours two birds in one attack: us and those that we would reveal the love of Christ to.
The good news is that, very much like the lion, he isn’t successful 100% of the time either. If we will do what our verse (1 Peter 5:8) says — if we are sober and vigilant — he cannot take us by surprise.
And, very much like the lion who gives up when he misses on the first try, when we resist the enemy, he will flee. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7.
More good news is that we also have an enemy repellent. The Word of God repels him. Jesus showed us that example when He was being tempted by the enemy in the wilderness. The enemy tempted Jesus three times and Jesus quoted scripture three times. And Matthew 4:11 tells us, “Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.”
The enemy is seeking his prey. It is a fact. Scripture confirms it. But, by being on the alert, it becomes more difficult (if not impossible) for him to prey on us. If we submit ourselves to God, the enemy will flee from us. And, if we quote scripture, it will repel him.
The reality is that we (followers of Christ) are his prey of choice. He doesn’t spend much energy chasing those who don’t know Christ because he doesn’t have to. They are already resisting God. But, if he can get to us, his hope is that we will get caught up in sin and become displeasing to our Heavenly Father. Then, through that behavior, we would be less effective in showing those who don’t know God the magnitude of His love.
Scripture gives us the recipe: flee, resist, and repel the enemy. We have to resist and repel the enemy. Not because our lives depend on it. Our lives are secure in Christ. We have to flee, resist, and repel for the eternal lives of those around us who don’t know Jesus. They are whom he will truly devour.
Father God, thank you for our salvation. Thank you for your sacrifice for us, Jesus. Thank you that our eternal lives are secure in you and the enemy cannot change that. Holy Spirit, help us to flee, resist, and repel the enemy’s attacks. We recognize that the eternal lives of those around us depend on it. Be glorified in us Father. We pray this in your precious and holy name, Jesus.
Have you been lured into sin by the enemy? Are you carrying around the guilt and shame of that sin? Do you know that God loves you and wants to forgive you? He wants to rescue you from the enemy’s grasp. And, all that God asks for is a prayer of repentance, prayed from the bottom of your heart. There is a prayer like that outlined on our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/). Please go to this page and pray that prayer (or one like it). God really does love you and wants to have an intimate and personal relationship with you.
Once you have prayed that prayer, please reach out to me at Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know. I’d love to be in prayer with and for you.
Luv Ya!
