1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11
May 17, 2026
“In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.” I’m sure many of us know those words from one of the songs in the popular Disney movie known as “The Lion King.” While it is true that lions sleep or rest most of the time, sometimes up to 20 hours/day, apparently they usually don’t sleep at night. They are actually nocturnal creatures, and they will often hunt at night and roar near dawn hoping to create fear in their prey.
Peter, in verse 8 of our second lesson speaks of a lion that never sleeps, and he says that this lion has been devouring unsuspecting prey from the beginning of time. So if Peter had written the words to that popular song from The Lion King, I would guess that his opening lyrics would have been a little different, something more along the lines of: “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion roars tonight.” The lion in this text is of course the devil, Satan, and while Peter tells us that this lion seeks to devour us, he gives us some great practical advice on how to be alert and to tame this lion.
Peter begins by saying in Chapter 5:6 that we need to “Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.” So how does humbling ourselves keep us alert to the devil’s attacks? Peter goes on to explain in verse 7 saying, “Cast all your anxiety on God, because He cares for you.” Therefore, to humble ourselves before God means to surrender all of our cares and concerns to Him, because Satan loves to use our cares and concerns to get us to second-guess and doubt God. The word “anxiety” in this text can actually mean “diversions” and we see the concept used in Scripture in the story of Mary and Martha. Jesus had come to Mary and Martha’s home and upon His arrival Mary decided to stop working and to sit at Jesus’ feet in order to listen to His every word, while Martha continued to work in the kitchen preparing a meal for Jesus and possibly His disciples. Martha becomes somewhat irritated that she is doing all the work while Mary just sits around listening to Jesus. Martha’s frustration so diverted her attention from the most important thing that was right in front of her, Jesus Himself, that instead of listening to Him, Martha complained to Jesus that Mary wasn’t doing any work to help her and asks Jesus to put Mary back to work helping her.
Maybe some of you have had some diversions just last week, as you were preparing for End of Grad tests, final exams, or graduation preparations. Maybe it was the prospect of starting a new job or the stress of losing your current one. Or maybe it was the challenge of caring for aging parents or a spouse who has some serious health concerns. Satan will stop at nothing to get us to rely on ourselves instead of God so that we end up worrying and actually breaking the 1st commandment. There is no better place to take your concerns and diversions than to God. He loves us and has promised to take care of us. After all, God will definitely take care of our problems better than we ever could, so what’s the use of worrying about them if we’ve handed them over to God?
Now I know that sounds so easy to do, but what happens most of the time? We carefully pack our concerns into a bag and give them to God, but we don’t let go of the bag. We think that if we don’t keep a hand on our problems they will never get solved. Therefore, instead of letting God carry our problems and leading us to where we should go, we try to lead God instead. Let God carry your burdens and let Him lead.
As we give all of our anxieties to God, that doesn’t mean the danger of an attack by Satan has passed. Just like a lion that carefully observes its prey long before the prey is aware, Satan is constantly watching us and he never gives up easily. Peter makes that very clear at the beginning of our second lesson. Peter is like the doctor we visit who has our test results in which we say, “Doctor, give it to me straight. If there’s something wrong, if it’s bad just tell me, don’t sugar coat it.” So Peter tells us in verse 12, “OK, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you…Be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him by standing firm in the faith.”
Resisting Satan, though, is not easy. Many times life may seem like a jungle, where Satan will attack when we least expect it. But then we hear some great news in our Gospel lesson from John in which we learn that we are not alone. Jesus is praying for us in John 17 that God would protect us. Being a baptized Christian brings with it many lasting benefits, not the least of which are the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life Jesus won for us on the cross. But Jesus wanted us to know that here in this world His name would also bring us suffering. However, there is a difference between suffering for doing wrong and suffering for what is right. While we do not delight in suffering, we have to admit that some suffering is deserved. When God made us, He designed us to be in a happy and healthy relationship with Him; and He gave us His laws to safeguard those blessings. So when we either intentionally or unintentionally break God’s laws, we go against His original design for our lives. We open ourselves up to the very real possibility of pain and suffering. Although we know that we should stay out of the lion’s way, many times we put ourselves in harm’s way. But since our God is the God of undeserved love, He always picks us up when we fall.
On the other hand, when Christians do suffer for their faith, even when selflessly serving others in Jesus’ name, it is never a punishment for something we have done wrong. Persecution for our faith never means that God does not love us or that He’s forgotten about us. Such suffering is simply the result of living in a sinful world, in which Satan seeks to attack us in any way He can.
While the Bible does not guarantee that we will be spared from attacks and sufferings, it does guarantee that we will be spared from defeat. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” But how are we to resist Satan, especially if Satan is like a lion? After all, a lion is much stronger than a human being. So just as a human being is no match for a lion, you and I alone are no match for Satan. But we can resist him with faith, with spiritual strength from God. In the hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” one of the verses speaks of defeating Satan and ends with the line, “Let this worlds tyrant rage; In battle we’ll engage. His might is doomed to fail…One little word subdues him.”
Next weekend we will remember the men and women of our armed forces who gave their lives in combat in order to preserve the many freedoms we enjoy today. Many of those service members were killed from powerful weapons that were designed to destroy life. But we have an even greater weapon, the most powerful weapon of all at our disposal every day – the Word of God, and it is designed not only to resist and defeat Satan, our greatest enemy, but to give life to people – life with God today and everlasting life in the kingdom of God. So when we are hurting or struggling we can pull out those verses on God’s love, forgiveness, life, mercy, grace, strength, care, and compassion and Satan will leave. When Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He used the Word of God to resist Satan to the point that Satan finally gave up and left until a later time. Satan will attack us and we need to be ready for those attacks, but through Jesus the victory over sin, Satan, and death is ours.
Living your life as a follower of Jesus can be difficult, confusing, filled with temptations, and covered with things that can hurt us or cause us to live in fear. But when we remain in Christ, I believe Satan’s roar will sound more like an annoying bark coming from a small dog. And when we humble ourselves, and remain alert and armed with the Word of God, Jesus will always keep us safe, so we can serve Him and each other.
