Good morning, Zane.
It’s been a few days since my last post. We made it home fine. That Toyota Avalon performed quite nicely. Our last lodging before home was with our long-standing friends, Elvin an Eunice, in Shady Cove. Food, fun, and fellowship...like none other.
My two main business modules are sure staying active—signs and sawing. My current priority is calling for sawing. But it’s pouring rain out there. At least I finally have the mill set up again under cover in what I call my mill shed…so I don’t have to work entirely in the rain.
My use below of the illustration of a cat stalking a mouse brings to mind the funny little play on words that goes like this: QUESTION: Why did the cat eat the cheese? ANSWER: So he could he could crouch beside the mouse hole with BAITED BREATH.
Hope to hear from you, Zane. Hope you have a great day. Love and prayers—Tua/Ray.
There is much in this chapter that is worthy of our attention, but I think I will settle on the exhortation from Peter to “be self-controlled and alert.” Why is this advice so important to Peter? Because he recognizes something that most people, even some believers, don’t—“your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Have you ever observed a cat stalking a mouse? While the mouse is watching and alert, the cat is dead still. But when the attention of the mouse is shifted to something else like eating or sniffing around, and he wanders a little too far from the security of his protective hole, that’s when the cat moves in closer. He’ll keep that approach up till he is within striking distance. At that point the mouse is no match for the cat. The same tactic is used by humans when hunting deer or any other kind of game. That strategy works underwater too—I’ve used it effectively countless times while spear fishing.
The point is that Satan is no match for us as long as we are self-controlled, alert, and strong in the Lord. But when we shift our attention from that focus and priority, and the residue of our NATURAL SIN NATURE is given less control, allowing ourselves to become careless and distracted by other things that are in conflict with the Word and the will of our Lord, we make ourselves vulnerable to this stalking enemy, at which time we are no match for Satan and his devices.
It is very good to know that we are given options and resources to successfully “resist him” (v. 9). How? By “standing firm in the faith.” What do we mean by this faith? It’s the great assurance that Christ within is our personal Savior, Security, and Sovereign. It includes the belief that apart from a close relationship with Him there is no hope of winning over Satan and his stalking devices. Believe it…and live it. We’re talking here about the key that guarantees a life of Christian victory and sets one apart from the weak, wimpy, ignorant, and contaminated version of superficial Christianity.