One of my favorite video games growing up was “Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts.” My brother and I would turn the lights off in the living room, turn the surround sound up loud, and find the scariest hunts we could find (the lions were usually the scariest). We would have to walk around a big grassy field to hunt these lions, but it didn’t take long to realize that the lions were the ones hunting us! In the game, they started playing some eery music when the lions got closer to you. With the surround sound on, it was doubly intense. If it wasn’t for the music that came on when they got close, we would have never won against the lions. Thankfully this was just a game and we didn’t have to worry about killing or being killed by the lions.
However, there is a lion out there today hunting us, and its not just a Friday night video game. In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter describes the devil as one who “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Our adversary, the devil, is out there hunting us down because we serve Jesus and not him. He is lurking in the shadows of our daily routines trying to lure us out of God’s light. He is hunting us in the tall wavy grass of our hearts and minds, waiting for us to slip up so that he can devour us. He is on the prowl for our souls! We may not have music that plays to warn us when he’s near, but we do need to recognize the warning signs. We need to see the things that don’t fit what God would have us to do, and run from those things. Those are the traps of the devil. That is the lion seeking to devour you!
I can’t begin to describe how refreshing it was in this game when you finally ran far enough away from the lions that the music stopped. When you see the warning signs of the devil lurking around in your life, run! And don’t stop running until the music stops.
“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” – James 4:7
– Kolton Ballance
Creating Ballance 