The prowling lion
The prowling lion
Having journeyed all the way to the center of the castle, the soul might assume the hard part is over. Peter sounds a warning that says otherwise. Be sober-minded, be watchful, he writes, for your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. The deeper you go with God, the more real and the more determined the opposition becomes. Formation has an enemy.
Notice the two commands that come first: be sober-minded and be watchful. Before any strategy, Peter calls for clear-eyed alertness. Much of the enemy's success depends on our not believing he is there at all — on a comfortable, drowsy assumption that talk of a real adversary is primitive superstition. A lion hunts most easily the prey that does not know it is being hunted.
This stage is an exercise in sober watchfulness — learning to recognize the strategies arrayed against your formation, not to grow fearful or obsessed with the enemy, but to stop being naive. Withstand him, Peter goes on, firm in your faith. You are not asked to defeat a lion in your own strength, but to stand, alert and unafraid, in the strength of the One who has already conquered him. The first step is simply to wake up to the fact that you are in a real battle.
“Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
— Peter, to the scattered church — 1 Peter 5:8 (WEB)
Wake up to the reality of the spiritual battle — sober-minded and watchful, neither naive about the enemy nor afraid of him, standing firm in a stronger Lord.
“Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.”
We assume that drawing near to God brings ease, and grow drowsy to the fact that formation has a real, determined enemy who opposes us most fiercely as we progress. The interior work is sober watchfulness — clear-eyed alertness that takes the adversary seriously without obsession or fear — waking from the naive assumption that talk of a real enemy is superstition, since the lion hunts most easily the prey that does not know it is hunted.
This week, name the spiritual battle honestly: where are you being opposed as you draw nearer to God? Practice sober watchfulness over that area, standing firm in faith rather than pretending there is no fight or cowering before it.
The tempter's opening move is to talk you out of believing he is there at all, so you doze while he prowls and call your drowsiness peace. Yet a sober, watchful soul is hard prey indeed — for the one who knows he is hunted, and stands firm in faith in a stronger Lord, does not go down easily.
It is striking that the enemy seems to oppose us most fiercely not when we are far from God but when we are drawing near. The deeper the formation, the more determined the opposition — which means spiritual progress, far from ending the battle, often intensifies it. The soul that assumes maturity brings ease has been lulled into exactly the drowsiness the lion hunts.
Peter's remedy is not fear but sober watchfulness: clear-eyed alertness that takes the enemy seriously without becoming obsessed with him. We neither pretend he isn't there nor cower before him; we stand firm in faith, awake to the battle, secure in a stronger Lord. As this stage begins, wake up to the reality of the fight, and resolve to be sober-minded and watchful where you have been naive and asleep.
- Have I grown drowsy to the reality of the spiritual battle?
- Where does opposition seem to intensify as I draw nearer to God?
- Can I be watchful without becoming fearful or obsessed with the enemy?
Lord, I have been naive and drowsy, assuming nearness to you brings ease, while a real adversary prowls. Make me sober-minded and watchful. Let me stand firm in faith, awake to the battle but unafraid, secure in you who have already conquered. Amen.